Entity Data Source and bit data types

DennisE · July 22nd, 2011, 07:23 AM

My project has several drop-down lists. These get filled with junk over time -- entries that used to be important but are no longer used. We don't want to delete old values because they are linked into valuable history. We don't want users to see more entries that are junk than entries that are useful. My normal solution is to add a field called "Obsolete" with a bit data type. If the field is True, the value is not shown in the drop-down.

I couldn't make this work with a where clause in an entity data source. If I use an integer type (1 = True, 0 = False), I can set the where clause to it.Obsolete = 0. But I have not found a way to make this filter work with a bit type using values True and False. What am I missing?

Imar · July 22nd, 2011, 09:51 AM

Hi Dennis,

Can you post the code you're working with? Are you using C# or VB?

Imar

DennisE · July 22nd, 2011, 10:20 AM

The code for an EDS is pretty simple -- I don't know if this is what you wanted. The code below works. it.obsolete is an int in the database.

Code:

    <asp:EntityDataSource ID="edsTitleName" runat="server" 
        ConnectionString="name=ETOSEntities" DefaultContainerName="ETOSEntities" 
        EnableFlattening="False" EntitySetName="Titles" Select="
it.TitleID, it.TitleName" Where="it.obsolete=0" OrderBy="it.TitleName">
    </asp:EntityDataSource>

I don't have code for the case where it.obsolete is a bit. This returned all records, whether it.obsolete was true or false

Code:

Where = "it.obsolete=False"

I also tried this. The logic is backwards, but that doesn't matter because it also failed to filter records.

Code:

Where = it.obsolete

I tried playing around with variations of these. Everything I tried returned all records, no matter whether it.obsolete was True or False. I couldn't find anything on the boards -- probably had the wrong search terms.

Imar · July 22nd, 2011, 10:29 AM

Is your model in sync with your database? I just created a simple test database with a required Obsolete column, and created a model. The following four options then all worked for me:

Where="it.Obsolete=False"
Where="it.Obsolete=True"
Where="it.Obsolete==False"
Where="it.Obsolete==True"

And are you using C# or VB?

Cheers,

Imar

DennisE · July 25th, 2011, 07:40 AM

Imar,

I can only offer my apologies. I went back and everything worked perfectly. Usually, whenever I change a data type in a table, I go to the edmx file, remove the table, then update from database and add the table again. If things don't seem to work, I usually double-check the table update. I suppose that's why I closed the mind to the possibility that this was my own silly mistake.

They say every experience is good, so long as you learn from it. That doesn't mean it's not embarassing.

BTW - I use C#.

Imar · July 25th, 2011, 02:51 PM

Quote:

They say every experience is good, so long as you learn from it. That doesn't mean it's not embarassing

Haha,don't worry about it. Happens to all of us..... ;-)

Glad you figured it out.

Cheers,

Imar