AutoMapper.ProjectTo with field level type conversion

Question

I am trying to use AutoMapper's ProjectTo extension method to convert an Entity Framework table based object to a custom DTO. The Person entity on the EF side looks like this:

public partial class Person
{
    public int PersonId { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string Age { get; set; }
}

The PersonViewModel DTO that I am projecting to looks like this:

public class PersonViewModel
{
    public PersonViewModel(Person p)
    {
        PersonId = p.PersonId;
        Name = p.Name;
        Age = Convert.ToInt32(p.Age);
    }

    public PersonViewModel()
    {

    }

    public PersonViewModel(int id, string name, int age)
    {
        PersonId = id;
        Name = name;
        Age = age;
    }

    public int PersonId { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
}

The key thing to note is that the person table contains a field called Age that is a nvarchar type and the PersonViewModel has an int type for Age. Unfortunately, I cannot change the table and have to find a way to convert the data.

The following code is the AutoMapper configurations I have tried, their "issues", and the consuming code (database call, etc).

MapperConfiguration config = new MapperConfiguration(cfg => 
        {
            // -----  Throws "Unable to create map expression" exception  ------
            //cfg.CreateMap<Person, PersonViewModel>();


            // -----  Throws "Linq to Entities does not support method" exception  ------
            //cfg.CreateMap<Person, PersonViewModel>()
            //    .ForMember(dest => dest.Age, opt => opt.MapFrom(src => Convert.ToInt32(src.Age)));


            // -----  Throws "Unable to create map expression" exception  ------
            //cfg.CreateMap<Person, PersonViewModel>()
            //    .ConstructProjectionUsing(src => new PersonViewModel
            //    {
            //        PersonId = src.PersonId,
            //        Name = src.Name,
            //        Age = Convert.ToInt32(src.Age)
            //    });


            // -----  Throws "Unable to create map expression" exception  ------
            //cfg.CreateMap<Person, PersonViewModel>()
            //    .ConstructProjectionUsing(src => new PersonViewModel(src.PersonId, src.Name, Convert.ToInt32(src.Age)));


            // -----  Throws "Unable to create map expression" exception  ------
            //cfg.CreateMap<Person, PersonViewModel>()
            //    .ConstructProjectionUsing(src => new PersonViewModel(src.PersonId, src.Name, 25));


            // -----  Throws "Linq to Entities does not support method" exception  ------
            //cfg.CreateMap<Person, PersonViewModel>()
            //    .ProjectUsing(src => new PersonViewModel
            //    {
            //        PersonId = src.PersonId,
            //        Name = src.Name,
            //        Age = Convert.ToInt32(src.Age)
            //    });


            // -----  Throws "Unable to create map expression" exception  ------
            //cfg.CreateMap<Person, PersonViewModel>()
            //    .ConstructUsing(src => new PersonViewModel
            //    {
            //        PersonId = src.PersonId,
            //        Name = src.Name,
            //        Age = Convert.ToInt32(src.Age)
            //    });


            // -----  Throws "Unable to create map expression" exception  ------
            //cfg.CreateMap<Person, PersonViewModel>()
            //    .ConstructUsing(src => new PersonViewModel(src));


            // -----  Doesn't throw exception, but all values are null or 0.  ------
            //cfg.CreateMap<Person, PersonViewModel>()
            //    .ConvertUsing(src => new PersonViewModel
            //    {
            //        PersonId = src.PersonId,
            //        Name = src.Name,
            //        Age = Convert.ToInt32(src.Age)
            //    });


            // -----  Doesn't throw exception, but all values are null or 0.  ------
            //cfg.CreateMap<Person, PersonViewModel>()
            //    .ConvertUsing(src => new PersonViewModel(src.PersonId, src.Name, Convert.ToInt32(src.Age)));


            // -----  Works, but bypasses the conversion I need  ------
            //cfg.CreateMap<Person, PersonViewModel>()
            //    .ProjectUsing(src => new PersonViewModel
            //    {
            //        PersonId = src.PersonId,
            //        Name = src.Name,
            //        Age = 25
            //    });


            // -----  Works, but bypasses the conversion I need  ------
            cfg.CreateMap<Person, PersonViewModel>()
                .ForMember(dest => dest.Age, opt => opt.MapFrom(src => 35));
        });

        using (FamilyEntities db = new FamilyEntities())
        {
            PersonViewModel p = db.Set<Person>()
                .Where(x => x.PersonId == 1)
                .ProjectTo<PersonViewModel>(config)
                .SingleOrDefault();

            Console.WriteLine("Name: " + p.Name + Environment.NewLine + "Age: " + p.Age);
        }

        Console.ReadLine();

Is this conversion of string to int possible using AutoMapper's ProjectTo? Secondly, if it is possible, what does that configuration look like?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Answer 1

https://stackoverflow.com/a/24027242/1736944 explains how to add functionality to EF. Basically the generated query will have to perform the typecast.