ASP.NET Core Razor Pages model binding

Question

I'm pretty new with ASP.NET Core Razor Pages and I would like your help on the following.

I have the following two classes:

public class Customer
{
    [Key]
    public int Id { get; set; }
    [Required(ErrorMessage ="Please enter a name.")]
    [Display(Name ="Customer Name")]
    public string CustomerName { get; set; }
    [Display(Name = "Customer Email")]
    public string CustomerEmail { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    [Display(Name ="Customer Phone Number")]
    public string CustomerPhoneNumber { get; set; } = string.Empty;

    public List<Invoice> Invoices { get; set; } = new();
}

and

public class Invoice
{
    [Key]
    public int Id { get; set; }
    [Display(Name ="Invoice Number")]
    public string InvNumber { get; set; }
    [Display(Name = "Invoice Amount")]
    public decimal InvAmount { get; set; }
    [Display(Name = "Issued? (Yes/No)")]
    public bool InvIssued { get; set; } = false;
    [Display(Name = "Paid? (Yes/No)")]
    public bool InvPaid { get; set; } = false;

    public int CustomerId { get; set; }
}

The way I've set it up is for a one-to-many relationship. Now, two related issues are that during the Create form for an invoice I also need to input a CustomerId, otherwise I get an SQL exception error. However, for the life of me, I can't figure out how to bind the data, to the Customer table, so that I can retrieve the list of available customers and have it as an option during the creation of an invoice.

My .cshtml file contains:

       <div class="form-group">
            <label asp-for="Invoice.CustomerId" class="control-label"></label>
            <input asp-for="Invoice.CustomerId" class="form-control" value="3"/>
            <span asp-validation-for="Invoice.InvNumber" class="text-danger"></span>
        </div>

        <div class="form-group">
            <label asp-for="Invoice.InvNumber" class="control-label"></label>
            <input asp-for="Invoice.InvNumber" class="form-control" />
            <span asp-validation-for="Invoice.InvNumber" class="text-danger"></span>
        </div>
        <div class="form-group">
            <label asp-for="Invoice.InvAmount" class="control-label"></label>
            <input asp-for="Invoice.InvAmount" class="form-control" />
            <span asp-validation-for="Invoice.InvAmount" class="text-danger"></span>
        </div>
 
        <div class="form-check">
            <input class="form-check-input" type="radio" name="InvIssued" id="InvIssued" value="true" checked="">
            <label class="form-check-label" asp-for="Invoice.InvIssued">
                The invoice has been issued.
            </label>
        </div>
        <div class="form-check">
            <input class="form-check-input" type="radio" name="InvNotIssed" id="InvNotIssed" value="false">
            <label class="form-check-label" asp-for="Invoice.InvIssued">
                The invoice has not been issued.
            </label>
        </div>
        
        <div class="form-group">
            <input type="submit" value="Create" class="btn btn-primary" />
        </div>
    </form>
</div>

and my page model is:

public class AddInvoiceModel : PageModel
{
    private readonly InvoicesAppContext InvoiceContext;

    public AddInvoiceModel(InvoicesAppContext contextInvoices)
    {
        InvoiceContext = contextInvoices;
    }

    public IActionResult OnGet()
    {
        return Page();
    }

    [BindProperty]
    public Invoice Invoice { get; set; }


    // To protect from overposting attacks, see https://aka.ms/RazorPagesCRUD
    public async Task<IActionResult> OnPostAsync()
    {
        if (!ModelState.IsValid)
        {
            return Page();
        }

       InvoiceContext.Invoice.Add(Invoice);
       await InvoiceContext.SaveChangesAsync();

       return RedirectToPage("../Index");
    }
}

So my questions are:

• How do I add a reference to Customer table in the AddInvoice Page Model?
• The CustomerId is an int and not the actual name of the customer. How do I retrieve the names and not the id?

Thank you all for your help. And sorry for this basic stuff. I am still learning.

Answer 1

Usually, when creating an invoice, you know who the customer is, and therefore their ID. You assign this to the Invoice in OnGet:

public IActionResult OnGet()
{
    Invoice = new Invoice{ CustomerId = id };
    return Page();
}

It's then a question of adding that ID to the invoice form so that it is posted along with the rest of the invoice details. You'd add it to the form as a hidden field:

<input asp-for="Invoice.CustomerId" type="hidden" />

If you don't know who the customer is, you provide a select list containing customers so that the user can select one for the invoice. You bind the select element to the Invoice.CustomerId property:

<select asp-for="Invoice.CustomerId" asp-items="Model.CustomerOptions"></select>

The CustomerOptions is a SelectList that you populate in the OnGet handler:

public SelectList CustomerOptions { get; set; }
public async Task<IActionResult> OnGet()
{
    CustomerOptions = new SelectList(await db.Customers.Select(x => new SelectListItem{
        Value = x.CustomerId.ToString(),
        Text = x.CustomerName
    }).ToListAsync(), nameof(SelectListItem.Value), nameof(SelectListItem.Text));
    return Page();
}