DotVVM.AutoUI 4.2.8

DotVVM Auto UI

Automatically generated forms, tables and more from type metadata.

Data Annotations

The main goal of this library is to generate user interface from metadata. It should be able to create reasonable UI from just the type information, for more control control over it you can use the following attributes.

• [Display(Name = "X")] - sets the property display name
• [Display(Prompt = "enter your email")] - sets the placeholder text of a textbox
• [Display(Description = "Longer description of the data collected")] - sets longer description. It will be set into the title attribute, and shown as sub-heading in some forms
• [Display(Order = 10)] - by default, the properties are in the order as they are defined in C#. This attribute allows you to change the order
• [Display(GroupName = "A")] - makes this field visible in form with GroupName property set to A
• [Display(AutoGenerateField = false)] - hide the field from forms. Note that a malicious user might still be able to see it and change it in the viewmodel, unless you also apply [Protect(ProtectMode.EncryptData)], [Bind(Direction.None)] or [JsonIgnore]
• [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "dd. MM. yyyy")] - controls the format string used in textbox and literals
• [DataType(...)] - controls which input type will be generated for the specified property
  • DataType.MultilineText - <textarea>
  • DataType.Password - <input type=password>
  • DataType.Date - <input type=date>. Note that this works for both DateTime and string properties
  • DataType.Time - <input type=time>
  • DataType.DateTime - <input type=datetime-local>
  • You can add support for more by implementing the IFormEditorProvider interface
• [Style(...)] - allows adding additional CSS classes to different parts of the forms, or tables
• [Editable(AllowEdit = false)] - makes the read only. Note that without [Protect(ProtectMode.Sign] anyone can change the underlying viewmodel anyway.
• [Visible(Roles = "Developer & !Manger")] - makes the field visible only to authenticated users with the Developer roles and without the Manager role
• [Visible(ViewNames = "Insert | Edit")] - makes the field visible in forms with ViewName property set to Insert or Edit
• [Enabled(...)] - makes the field editable under some conditions (similar API to [Visible(...)])
• [UIHint(...)] - currently not used by AutoUI, but can be used for matching custom providers

Example

public class EmployeeDTO
{
    [Display(AutoGenerateField = false)]        // this field will be hidden
    public int Id { get; set; }

    [Required]
    [Display(GroupName = "Basic Info")]
    public string UserName { get; set; }

    [Required]
    [Display(GroupName = "Basic Info")]
    public string FirstName { get; set; }

    [Required]
    [Display(GroupName = "Basic Info")]
    public string LastName { get; set; }

    [Display(GroupName = "Basic Info")]
    public DateTime BirthDate { get; set; }


    [Display(Name = "E-mail", GroupName = "Contact Info")]
    [EmailAddress] // use <input type=email>
    public string PersonalEmail { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "Phone", GroupName = "Contact Info")]
    [DataType(DataType.PhoneNumber)] // use <input type=tel>
    public string PersonalPhone { get; set; }

}

Configuration API

The metadata can be also controlled using a configuration API:

services.AddAutoUI(config => {
    // for all properties with a certain name
    config.PropertyMetadataRules
        .For("IsCompany", r => r.SetDisplayName(""))
        .For("ProductId", r => r.UseSelection<ProductSelection>());
})

The metadata provider can be easily extended by implementing and registering these two interfaces:

• IPropertyDisplayMetadataProvider provides basic information about properties - all information listed above.

• IViewModelValidationMetadataProvider retrieves validation attributes for each property.

Initialization

First, install the DotVVM.AutoUI NuGet package in your project.

dotnet add package DotVVM.AutoUI

To use AutoUI, add the following line to the Startup.cs file.

// ASP.NET Core (place this snippet in the ConfigureServices method)
services.AddDotVVM(options =>
{
    options.AddAutoUI(config => {
        // configuration options
    });
});

// OWIN
app.UseDotVVM<DotvvmStartup>(applicationPhysicalPath, options: options =>
{    // set up config
    options.AddAutoUI(config => {
        // configuration options
    });
});

This will allow to provide UI metadata using the standard .NET Data Annotations attributes.

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GridView - data tables

When your view model class is decorated with data annotation attributes, you can auto-generate GridView columns.

DotVVM AutoUI brings the auto:GridViewColumns control, it is a special grid column which gets replaced by a separate column for each property. It can be used with the built-in dot:GridView, and also with the GridViews in DotVVM component packages

<bs:GridView Type="Bordered" DataSource="{value: Employees}">
    <auto:GridViewColumns />
    
    <dot:GridViewTemplateColumn>
        <a href='{value: $"/people/edit/{_this.Id}"}'> <bs:GlyphIcon Icon="Pencil" /> Edit</a>
    </dot:GridViewTemplateColumn>
</bs:GridView>

Number of properties can be used to customize the auto:GridViewColumns behavior. Most notably:

• Property-LastAccessTime={value: _this.LastContactTime.ToBrowserLocalTime()}
  • passes the LastContactTime property through the ToBrowserLocalTime function
• Property-Name={value: FirstName + " " + LastName}
  • adds new column with the specified value binding
• Header-LastContactTime="Last Seen"
  • sets custom display name for the column
• ExcludeProperties="FirstName, LastName"
  • removes the FirstName and LastName columns from the table
• IncludeProperties="Name, Email"
  • only the listed properties will be included in the table
• <ContentTemplate-Id> <a href='{value: $"/people/detail/{Id}"}'> {{value: Id}} </a> </ContentTemplate-Id>
  • sets a custom HTML template for the Id column
• IsEditable-Id=false
  • marks the Id property as not editable (only in this GridView's inline edit mode)
• <EditorTemplate-MyProperty> ... - similar to ContentTemplate-X

There is also similar auto:GridViewColumn which is used for a single property.

Forms

DotVVM AutoUI contains the auto:Form control for basic forms. We also include auto:BootstrapForm and auto:BulmaForm for use with the bootstrap or bulma CSS frameworks. If you have another favorite CSS framework, it's not hard to make a Form for your needs. Our BootstrapForm and BulmaForm are both under 200 lines, and you can start by copying its code.

The following code with create a simple form

<auto:Form DataContext="{value: EditedEmployee}" />

The control takes the edited view model as DataContext and generates form fields for all properties of the object using the metadata from data annotation attributes.

As with grid columns, there is a similar set of properties to customize the form behavior:

• ExcludeProperties="Id, CreatedTime"
  • Removes the FirstName and LastName columns from the form
• IncludeProperties="FirstName, LastName, Email"
  • Only the listed properties will be included in the form
• ViewName=Insert / GroupName=Group1
  • Include only properties from the specified group and view
• Label-LastContactTime="Last Seen"
  • Sets custom display name for the field
• Visible-BirthDate={value: IsPerson}
  • Only display this field if the condition is true
• Enabled-InvoiceAmount={value: !IsClosed}
  • Only allow editing this field if the condition is true
• Changed-Email={staticCommand: _parent.IsEmailUnique = service.IsEmailUnique(Email)}
  • Event fired when a field changes. May be used to reload some data related to this field
• <FieldTemplate-X>
  • overrides the entire field layout (including label, validation, ...)
• <EditorTemplate-X>
  • use the template instead of the default editor

If you want to layout the form into multiple parts, you can use the group names to render each group separately. If you specify the GroupName property, the Form will render only fields from this group.

<div class="row">
    <div class="col-md-6">
        <auto:BootstrapForm DataContext="{value: EditedEmployee}" GroupName="Basic Info" />
    </div>
    <div class="col-md-6">
        <auto:BootstrapForm DataContext="{value: EditedEmployee}" GroupName="Contact Info" />
    </div>
</div>

If you have implemented your own form control and there is a chance that it might be useful for other people, please send us PR and we'll be happy to include as part of the library.

Custom Editors

Currently, the framework supports TextBox, CheckBox and ComboBox editors, which can edit string, numeric, date-time and boolean values. If you want to support any other data type, you can implement your own editor and grid column.

You need to implement the IFormEditorProvider to implement a custom editor in the form, and the IGridColumnProvider to implement about custom GridView column.

Then, you have to register the editor in the DotvvmStartup.cs file. Please note that the order of editor providers and grid columns matters. AutoUI will use the first provider which returns CanHandleProperty = true for the property.

autouiConfig.FormEditorProviders.Add(new YourEditorProvider());
autouiConfig.GridColumnProviders.Add(new YourGridColumnProvider());

Loading Metadata from Resource Files

Decorating every field with the [Display(Name = "Whatever")] is not very effective when it comes to localization - you need to specify the resource file type and resource key. Also, if you have multiple entities with the FirstName property, you'll probably want to use the same field name for all of them.

That's why DotVVM Auto UI comes with the resource-based metadata providers. They can be registered in the DotvvmStartup.cs like this:

config.RegisterResourceMetadataProvider(typeof(Resources.ErrorMessages), typeof(Resources.PropertyDisplayNames));

The ErrorMessages and PropertyDisplayNames are RESX files in the Resources folder and they contain the default error messages and display names of the properties.

Localizing Error Messages

If you use the [Required] attribute and you don't specify the ErrorMessage or ErrorMessageResourceName on it, the resource provider will look in the ErrorMessages.resx file and if it finds the Required key there, it'll use this resource item to provide the error message.

Your ErrorMessages.resx file may look like this:

Resource Key            Value
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Required                {0} is required!
EmailAddress            {0} is not a valid e-mail address!
...

Localizing Property Display Names

The second resource file PropertyDisplayNames.resx contains the display names. If the property doesn't have the [Display(Name = "Something")] attribute, the provider will look in the resource file for the following values (in this order). If it finds an item with that key, it'll use the value as a display name of the field

• TypeName_PropertyName
• PropertyName

So if you want to use the text "Given Name" for the FirstName property in all classes, with the exception of the ManagerDTO class where you need to use the "First Name" text, your resource file should look like this:

Resource Key            Value
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FirstName               Given Name
ManagerDTO_FirstName    First Name
...

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Roadmap

Here is a brief list of features that are already done, and features that are planned for the future releases.

Implemented

• DisplayAttribute (Name, Order, GroupName, AutoGenerateField)
• DisplayFormatAttribute (DataFormatString)
• Validation Attributes
• Resource lookup for validation error messages and property display names
• HTML table layout for Forms
• TextBox and CheckBox editors
• ComboBox editor with support of conventions
• DisplayFormatAttribute (NullDisplayText)
• auto:Editor control for editing individual fields

In Progress

• More form layouts
• Page templates

Future

• Auto-generating filters on top of the GridView