Studying tutorials for ASP.NET MVC2, struggling to apply to bigger problem

Question

I am starting asp.net MVC2 by going through a few tutorials, but they are all too basic when trying to apply this to my real world problem.

I have been following a tutorial based on a simple one table database. I build the data model using ADO.NET Entity Data Model and select to generate the model from database. Then I make a controller for the table, all I do in the controller is list the items, i.e.

private sampleDatabaseDBEntities _dataModel = new sampleDatabaseDBEntities();

public ActionResult Index()
{
     return View(_dataModel.TheOnlyTable.ToList());
}

So I am trying to figure out how to start, when the schema is more complex.

Say I have a FruitShop and have a table like Vegetables that references values from another table (Color for example).

Obviously the auto generated code will not work:

<table>
        <tr>
            <th></th>
            <th>
                SampleID
            </th>
            <th>
                SampleForeignKeyFieldID
            </th>
            <th>
                SampleForeignKeyFieldID
            </th>
            <th>
                SampleOtherValue
            </th>
            ....

because I need to lookups based on the value in SampleForeignKeyFieldID to another table (Colors from Vegetables table for example)

Infact for this table, I tried just doing the return View(_dataModel.Table.ToList()); but nothing displayed at all. I guess because most fields are referenced elsewhere.

How do I get started building the views for these cases? Is there any tutorial/guide you know of that would help get me started?

Thanks

Answer 1

Best place to learn:

http://www.asp.net/mvc

Views and ViewModels - http://www.asp.net/mvc/tutorials/mvc-music-store-part-2

Try to follow this music store app.

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