Multi-tier applications using L2S, WCF and Base Class
- by Gena Verdel
Hi all.
One day I decided to build this nice multi-tier application using L2S and WCF.
The simplified model is : DataBase-L2S-Wrapper(DTO)-Client Application.
The communication between Client and Database is achieved by using Data Transfer Objects which contain entity objects as their properties.
abstract public class BaseObject
    {
    public virtual IccSystem.iccObjectTypes ObjectICC_Type
            {
                get { return IccSystem.iccObjectTypes.unknownType; }
            }
            [global::System.Data.Linq.Mapping.ColumnAttribute(Storage = "_ID", AutoSync = AutoSync.OnInsert, DbType = "BigInt NOT NULL IDENTITY", IsPrimaryKey = true, IsDbGenerated = true)]
            [global::System.Runtime.Serialization.DataMemberAttribute(Order = 1)]
            public virtual long ID
            {
                //get;
                //set;
                get
                {
                    return _ID;
                }
                set
                {
                    _ID = value;
                }
            }
    }
    [DataContract]
    public class BaseObjectWrapper<T> where T : BaseObject
    {
        #region Fields
        private T _DBObject;
        #endregion
        #region Properties
        [DataMember]
        public T Entity
        {
            get { return _DBObject; }
            set { _DBObject = value; }
        }
        #endregion
}
Pretty simple, isn't it?. Here's the catch. Each one of the mapped classes contains ID property itself so I decided to override it like this
[global::System.Data.Linq.Mapping.TableAttribute(Name="dbo.Divisions")]
    [global::System.Runtime.Serialization.DataContractAttribute()]
    public partial class Division : INotifyPropertyChanging, INotifyPropertyChanged
{
[global::System.Data.Linq.Mapping.ColumnAttribute(Storage="_ID", AutoSync=AutoSync.OnInsert, DbType="BigInt NOT NULL IDENTITY", IsPrimaryKey=true, IsDbGenerated=true)]
        [global::System.Runtime.Serialization.DataMemberAttribute(Order=1)]
        public override long ID
        {
            get
            {
                return this._ID;
            }
            set
            {
                if ((this._ID != value))
                {
                    this.OnIDChanging(value);
                    this.SendPropertyChanging();
                    this._ID = value;
                    this.SendPropertyChanged("ID");
                    this.OnIDChanged();
                }
            }
        }
}
Wrapper for division is pretty straightforward as well:
public class DivisionWrapper : BaseObjectWrapper<Division>
    {
    }
It worked pretty well as long as I kept ID values at mapped class and its BaseObject class the same(that's not very good approach, I know, but still) but then this happened:
private CentralDC _dc;
    public bool UpdateDivision(ref DivisionWrapper division)
            {
                DivisionWrapper tempWrapper = division;
                if (division.Entity == null)
                {
                    return false;
                }
                try
                {
                    Table<Division> table = _dc.Divisions;
                    var q = table.Where(o => o.ID == tempWrapper.Entity.ID);
                    if (q.Count() == 0)
                    {
                        division.Entity._errorMessage = "Unable to locate entity with id " + division.Entity.ID.ToString();
                        return false;
                    }
                    var realEntity = q.First();
                    realEntity = division.Entity;
                    _dc.SubmitChanges();
                    return true;
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    division.Entity._errorMessage = ex.Message;
                    return false;
                }
            }
When trying to enumerate over the in-memory query the following exception occurred:
Class member BaseObject.ID is unmapped. 
Although I'm stating the type and overriding the ID property L2S fails to work.
Any suggestions?