Generate class code based on SQL table definition

I was looking for a quick way to generate the boilerplate code for a class based on the definition of a table in my SQL database. I recently started researching the various ORM offerings, but it's still quite early days and I'm looking for something simple that I can use in the meantime to help speed things up.

It dawned on me that I should be able to generate the code within SQL itself using the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS data of the table.

Below is a stored procedure that generates the VB code for a class based on a database table specified in the first parameter. Use the second parameter to specify the name of the class, or leave it as NULL for the Stored Procedure to assume that your table name is pluralised with an "s", therefore naming the class the same less the "s".

I'm using the wonderful little AutoMapper library in the generated code to automatically map the columns from the SQL query to the fields of the class. When I think of it, I'm trying to do for our class code what AutoMapper is doing for object-object mapping code - both of which are "rather dreary and boring to write".

As I got going with this, I realised that I needn't stop at the domain object class code. I'm also outputting the code for a backing repository class that does the database interaction and the code for a default unit test to check that the database retrieve works. I'm not claiming to be properly using the Repository Pattern here, I just think the term repository is appropriate. And it's more of an integration test than a unit test.

The SQL Stored Procedure code:



Execute the Stored Procedure and perform a bit of Copy-Paste Driven Development. If I get the team using this, then it also has the nice side affect of applying a standard coding pattern to our classes.

A quick and simple solution - no installation required!

Localized jQueryUI dialog titles in ASP.net webforms

Following on from the localization process described in my earlier post, here's how it rolls when I'm using the brilliant jQueryUI modal dialogs.

A lot of the application's web pages use the same modal dialog, for example to choose a customer. I have used ASP.net usercontrols to wrap up the HTML/ASP.net markup and then re-use them throughout the application.

The usercontrol contains a jTemplates template to build a table based on the result of a jQuery ajax call.
Datatables.js is used to enable paging and searching.

Excuse the endscript tag included in the below snippet, but SyntaxHighlighter was interpreting the closing script tag as the end of the code snippet.


I am able to use the same ExpressionBuilder based localisation technique within the user control to provide translations for the labels of the buttons and column headers. Even within the jTemplates script, the ASP.Net engine recognises the ExpressionBuilder tags and evaluates them accordingly.

The one item that I was not able to translate directly was the dialog title supplied in the call to the jQueryUI dialog function. Instead of a direct attack, a flanking maneuver was required.

Inside each usercontrol's declaration, I include a hidden input form whose value is set using my ExpressionBuilder Translate function. A CSS class of "title" is assigned to it. When instantiating the dialog, I pass reference to this hidden field for assigning the dialog title.