How to update an existing Entity from ViewModel using Automapper and EF4 DbContext with Lazy Loading enabled

Question

How to update an existing Entity from ViewModel using Automapper and EF4 DbContext with Lazy Loading enabled

asp.net-mvc automapper dbcontext entity-framework lazy-loading

Question

I am using Automapper to map between Entity and ViewModel object (in both directions). The model uses EF4 DbContext POCOs and needs LazyLoading (and therefore Proxy Generation) enabled.

I have come across a problem attempting to update an existing entity from a viewmodel. When I call Mapper.Map(vm, entity), Automapper throws an exception. My question is: how are you supposed to work with EF Proxy objects using Automapper?

The code looks (simplified) like this:

public class MyEntity
{
    public int Id {get;set;}
    public int Name {get;set;}
}

public class ViewModel
{
    public int Id {get;set;}
    public int Name {get;set;}
}

Mapper.CreateMap<MyEntity, ViewModel>();
Mapper.CreateMap<ViewModel, MyEntity>();

public ActionResult Edit(ViewModel vm)
{
    MyEntity entity = db.MyEntities.Find(vm.Id);
    Mapper.Map(vm, entity);
    db.Entry(entity).State = EntityState.Modified;
    db.SaveChanges();
}

When I call Mapper.Map(vm, entity) to update the existing entity object, I get the exception:

'Mapper.Map(viewModel, resultSet)' threw an exception of type 'AutoMapper.AutoMapperMappingException'
base {System.Exception}: {"Missing type map configuration or unsupported mapping.\n\nMapping types:\r\nResultSetView -> ResultSet_692D75838D4DC59B922F3E88CF1B10516CBF6CD8A32C4BE2F3FCC28CE83F0BD2\r\nSciensus.Applications.ClinicalStudies.Web.Areas.Patient.Models.ResultSetView -> System.Data.Entity.DynamicProxies.ResultSet_692D75838D4DC59B922F3E88CF1B10516CBF6CD8A32C4BE2F3FCC28CE83F0BD2\n\nDestination path:\nResultSet_692D75838D4DC59B922F3E88CF1B10516CBF6CD8A32C4BE2F3FCC28CE83F0BD2\n\nSource value:\nSciensus.Applications.ClinicalStudies.Web.Areas.Patient.Models.ResultSetView"}
Context: {Trying to map ResultSetView to ResultSet_692D75838D4DC59B922F3E88CF1B10516CBF6CD8A32C4BE2F3FCC28CE83F0BD2.}
Message: "Missing type map configuration or unsupported mapping.\n\nMapping types:\r\nResultSetView -> ResultSet_692D75838D4DC59B922F3E88CF1B10516CBF6CD8A32C4BE2F3FCC28CE83F0BD2\r\nSciensus.Applications.ClinicalStudies.Web.Areas.Patient.Models.ResultSetView -> System.Data.Entity.DynamicProxies.ResultSet_692D75838D4DC59B922F3E88CF1B10516CBF6CD8A32C4BE2F3FCC28CE83F0BD2\n\nDestination path:\nResultSet_692D75838D4DC59B922F3E88CF1B10516CBF6CD8A32C4BE2F3FCC28CE83F0BD2\n\nSource value:\nSciensus.Applications.ClinicalStudies.Web.Areas.Patient.Models.ResultSetView"
StackTrace: ""

Paul Taylor

Popular Answer

As you suspect, I believe you are getting this exception, because AutoMapper doesn't have a map for the proxy class created by Lazy Loading (ResultSet_692D75838D4DC59B922F3E88CF1B10516CBF6CD8A32C4BE2F3FCC28CE83F0BD2) which derives from your ResultSet entity.

What you might try is the following:

public ActionResult Edit(ViewModel vm)
{
    // This returns the entity proxy
    MyEntity oldEntity = db.MyEntities.Find(vm.Id);
    // i.e. Create a 'plain' Entity, not a proxy.
    MyEntity newEntity = Mapper.Map<ViewModel, MyEntity>(vm);

    db.Entry(oldEntity).CurrentValues.SetValues(newEntity);
    // I don't think you need this now.
    // db.Entry(entity).State = EntityState.Modified;
    db.SaveChanges();
}

StuartLC

View more on Stack Overflow

Root Zhou · Accepted Answer · 1/11/2013 3:41:34 AM

I looked at the AutoMapper source Code:

    public TDestination Map<TSource, TDestination>(TSource source, TDestination destination)
    {
        return Map(source, destination, opts => { });
    }

    public TDestination Map<TSource, TDestination>(TSource source, TDestination destination, Action<IMappingOperationOptions> opts)
    {
        Type modelType = typeof(TSource);
        Type destinationType = (Equals(destination, default(TDestination)) ? typeof(TDestination) : destination.GetType());

        return (TDestination)Map(source, destination, modelType, destinationType, opts);
    }

Problems occurred in this place:

  Type destinationType = (Equals(destination, default(TDestination)) ? typeof(TDestination) : destination.GetType());

So the change that do not have a problem:

  Mapper.Map(vm, entity,typeof(ViewModel),typeof(MyEntity));

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