ViewModel in MVC correct way of accessing data - asp.net-mvc

Question

Can anyone please tell me whether this is the correct way of creating a viewmodel. I'm using Ninject and the only way I can get the view model to work is with the code below.
Also I cannot seem to be able to pass the data from the viewmodel to the controller unless I create a 2nd interface.
The code below does work, but reading all the examples I have seen I seem to be duplicating a lot off code from my domain layer.
---------------------Code Data access layer------
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
namespace Web.Domain.SearchEngine
{
public class DisplaySearchResults
{
public string Title { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
public string URL { get; set; }
}
public class GetSearchResults : IGetSearchResults
{
private string dbConn;
public GetSearchResults()
{
dbConn = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["Search"].ConnectionString;
}
public IEnumerable<DisplaySearchResults> SearchResults(string q, string option, int pagenumber)
{
List<DisplaySearchResults> Data = new List<DisplaySearchResults>();
string spName = "dbo.FTS_On_at_Websites";
using (SqlConnection cn = new SqlConnection(dbConn))
{
using (SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(spName, cn))
{
cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#strSearchPhrase", SqlDbType.VarChar, 100));
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#SearchMode", SqlDbType.Int, 4));
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#intPageNumber", SqlDbType.Int));
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#intRecordsPerPage", SqlDbType.Int));
cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#intTotalRecordsReturned", SqlDbType.Int));
cmd.Parameters["#strSearchPhrase"].Value = q;
cmd.Parameters["#SearchMode"].Value = 1;
cmd.Parameters["#intPageNumber"].Value = pagenumber;
cmd.Parameters["#intRecordsPerPage"].Value = 10;
cmd.Parameters["#intTotalRecordsReturned"].Value = 10;
cn.Open();
using (SqlDataReader rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.Default))
{
if (rdr.HasRows)
{
while (rdr.Read())
{
Data.Add(new DisplaySearchResults
{
Title = (string)rdr["PageTitle"],
Description = (string)rdr["PageParagraph"],
URL = (string)rdr["PageURL"]
});
}
}
return Data;
}
}
}
}
}
}
-------------Code ViewModel--------------------
using Microsoft.Security.Application;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using Web.Domain.SearchEngine;
namespace Web.UI.ModelHelpers.Search
{
public class DisplaySearchResultsViewModel
{
public string Title { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
public string URL { get; set; }
}
public class GetSearchResultsViewModel : IGetSearchResultsViewModel
{
private readonly IGetSearchResults _IGSR;
public GetSearchResultsViewModel(IGetSearchResults IGSR)
{
_IGSR = IGSR;
}
public IEnumerable<DisplaySearchResultsViewModel> SearchResultsViewModel(string q, string option, int pagenumber)
{
var searchResults = _IGSR.SearchResults(q, option, pagenumber).AsEnumerable();
List<DisplaySearchResultsViewModel> GetData = new List<DisplaySearchResultsViewModel>();
foreach (var details in searchResults.AsEnumerable())
{
GetData.Add(new DisplaySearchResultsViewModel()
{
Title = Sanitizer.GetSafeHtmlFragment(details.Title),
Description = Sanitizer.GetSafeHtmlFragment(details.Description).ToLower(),
URL = Sanitizer.GetSafeHtmlFragment(details.URL),
});
}
return GetData;
}
}
}
In controller I have
var DisplaySearchResults = _IGSR.SearchResultsViewModel(cleanText, "1", 1);

Answer 1

No, this is not the correct way to build a view model. A view model should not contain any data access logic in it. That's the responsibility of the model.
What you should do instead is use Ninject to inject the IGetSearchResults instance into your controller instead of having your GetSearchResultsViewModel view model take it as constructor dependency. Actually you do not need this GetSearchResultsViewModel at all. You already have the correct view model called DisplaySearchResultsViewModel. Then it's the responsibility of your controller to use your data access layer and build this view model.
For example:
public class SomeController : Controller
{
private readonly IGetSearchResults repository;
public SomeController(IGetSearchResults repository)
{
this.repository = repository;
}
public ActionResult SomeAction(string q, string option, int pagenumber)
{
// query your data access layer and build the view model that you will
// pass to the view
IEnumerable<DisplaySearchResultsViewModel> model = this.repository
.SearchResults(q, option, pagenumber)
.AsEnumerable()
.Select(details => new DisplaySearchResultsViewModel
{
Title = Sanitizer.GetSafeHtmlFragment(details.Title),
Description = Sanitizer.GetSafeHtmlFragment(details.Description).ToLower(),
URL = Sanitizer.GetSafeHtmlFragment(details.URL)
})
.ToList();
return View(model);
}
}