[RESOLVED] Connect to sql server from Blazor Server application

[MMock]

I am working on a new Blazor Server application and it's my first one so I am learning. I want to connect to my database. But just to have some fun, not for real, so it doesn't need to be all that secure. Can't I just add a connection string to appsettings.json and be on my merry way? I coded a cute little page with a grid that displays data for *one* of our customers. I hardcoded it all 🙁. I would like to switch to a new customer (that should also come from our database so I can list them all) and load new data. Can't I just test this without getting all serious about database access? Thanks!

[dday9]

This is my typical setup.

Step 1 is to setup a connectionStrings element in your Web.config and set the configSource to an external file:

<configuration>
    ...
    <connectionStrings configSource="connectionStrings.config" />
</configuration

Step 2 is to create the external file where the build action is content and the copy to output directory is copy always. The contents will be an empty connection string entry:

<connectionStrings>
    <add name="MyDataModel" connectionString="data source=change-me;initial catalog=change-me;user id=change-me;password=change-me;MultipleActiveResultSets=True;App=EntityFramework" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
</connectionStrings>

Step 3 is to build the project so that the file gets added to the .csproj file.

Step 4 is optional if you are using Git. That is to add the external connection strings file to the .gitignore:

connectionStrings.config

Step 5 is to update the connection string value so that you replace all the "change-me" values to be your actual values.

Step 6 is to setup the unity factory. Create a new class with a static method which returns a UnityContainer that looks like this:

public class UnityFactory
{
    private static UnityContainer _unityContainer = null;

    static public UnityContainer Instance()
    {
        if(_unityContainer == null)
        {
            var container = new UnityContainer();
            _unityContainer = container;

            // this assumes you are using some ORM like PetaPoco or Entity Framework
            container.RegisterType<IDatabase, Database>(new PerThreadLifetimeManager(), new InjectionConstructor("MyDataModel")); // MyDataModel will be the connection string name
        }
        Return _unityContainer;
    }

}

Now when you need to get your database class, all you need to do is get it from your container and you can do your operations, e.g.:

var container = UnityFactory.Instance();
var database = container.Resolve<IDatabase>();
var records = database.Query<MyTableModel>("SELECT * FROM MyTable;");

[MMock]

Thank you. In the meantime I found this which seems very helpful. It's slow and detailed which is where I am at the moment. 32:24 into this video he discusses data access.

[MMock]

That youtube video I previously cited was very helpful. I am using Dapper at this time, while developing.

[szlamany]

@mmock

Sounds like you are well into it and having some success! Good luck!

[MMock]

Phew! I saw your reply and was afraid you were going to point out something I did wrong!
Thanks!