ViewModel returns same values for all 500+ records to the view

Question

I am new to using ViewModels, I have a new list here and am adding items to it by looping though a database table. The issue is that all the records that come back are identical using the same record over and over. What could be the issue and is this a good way to accomplish filling with data and Passing a ViewModel or is there a better way? Right now it returns about 500 records with the same data.

public class DimCustomersController : Controller
{
    private AdventureWorks_MBDEV_DW2008Entities db = new AdventureWorks_MBDEV_DW2008Entities();

    public ActionResult CustomersIndexVM()
    {
        List<DimCustomersIndexViewModel> CustomerList = new List<DimCustomersIndexViewModel>();

        DimCustomersIndexViewModel CustomerItem = new DimCustomersIndexViewModel();
        foreach (var m in db.DimCustomers.ToList())// cold do for loop up to count
        {
            CustomerItem.Title = m.Title;
            CustomerItem.FirstName = m.FirstName;
            CustomerItem.MiddleName = m.MiddleName;
            CustomerItem.LastName = m.LastName;
            CustomerItem.BirthDate = m.BirthDate;
            CustomerItem.MaritalStatus = m.MaritalStatus;
            CustomerItem.Suffix = m.Suffix;
            CustomerItem.Gender = m.Gender;
            CustomerItem.EmailAddress = m.EmailAddress;
            CustomerItem.AddressLine1 = m.AddressLine1;
            CustomerItem.AddressLine2 = m.AddressLine2;
            CustomerItem.Phone = m.Phone;
            //other columns go here
            CustomerList.Add(CustomerItem);
        }

        return View("CustomersIndexVM", CustomerList);
    }

Answer 1

This line needs to be inside the loop:

DimCustomersIndexViewModel CustomerItem = new DimCustomersIndexViewModel();

The reason is that you want a new view model for each customer, but instead you are currently creating only one view model and changing its properties. When you add it to the list, you are not adding a copy; you are adding the same view model you already added.

This code would work if DimCustomersIndexViewModel was a struct, because structs are just a bag of values that have no inherent identity and they are copied rather than referenced. (Technical comparison.) But it's a class (as it should be), with a unique identity, so you're adding a reference to the single view model into the list over and over. Customerlist[0] and CustomerList[1] and all the other items point to the same DimCustomersIndexViewModel object instance, whose properties are then overwritten and left equal to the very last customer.

By moving this line inside the loop, you are creating a separate DimCustomersIndexViewModel for each customer, each with its own set of properties, and CustomerList contains references to many different DimCustomersIndexViewModel object instances.

Once you have solid experience with this concept, a future step could be to use AutoMapper so that you don't have to maintain a list of all properties in your code here.