Receive empty data set in ASP.Net MVC - asp.net-mvc

Question

I am so puzzled with this:
I have two identical set of code for retrieving data from database. One returns data and the other does not, even though data is expected.
The following is the one that returns empty set. There are sample data in the corresponding table.
This is the controller code:
namespace MVCPart1_5.Controllers
{
public class DepartmentController : Controller
{
// GET: Department
public ActionResult Index()
{
DepartmentContext oDepartmentContext = new DepartmentContext();
List<Department> oDepartments = oDepartmentContext.Departments.ToList();
return View(oDepartments);
}
}
}
These are the models:
namespace MVCPart1_5.Models
{
[Table("Department")]
public class Department
{
[Key]
public int Code { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
}
}
namespace MVCPart1_5.Models
{
public class DepartmentContext : DbContext
{
public DbSet<Department> Departments { set; get; }
}
}
and finally the view:
#model IEnumerable<MVCPart1_5.Models.Department>
#using MVCPart1_5.Models;
#{
ViewBag.Title = "Index";
}
<h2>Department Set</h2>
<div style="font-family :Arial">
<ul>
#foreach (Department department in #Model)
{
<li>
#Html.ActionLink(department.Name, "Details", "Employee", new { departmentCode = department.Code })
</li>
}
</ul>
</div>
I also have the following in the global:
protected void Application_Start()
{
Database.SetInitializer<MVCPart1_5.Models.EmployeeContext>(null);
Database.SetInitializer<MVCPart1_5.Models.DepartmentContext>(null);
AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
}
}
Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer 1

If your oDepartments variable is not filled with the data you should examine a connection string in your application because it's probably wrong (so it connects to another database).
Because your DbContext class is DepartmentContext and the default Entity Framework approach is to name connection string the same you should look for a connection string named DepartmentContext. Then try to connect to a database using credentials found in that connection string. I'm 99% sure you'll find empty Department table.
Remember that even if you connect with the same database server you could connect to wrong database.