Dynamic odata service in C# from runtime data layer

Question

I'm trying to create a dynamic odata service from tables in my tables which are not known till runtime. So at the start of my web application, a user selects a database and in C# I find all the tables in that database.

Now the hard part is I want to create odata service endpoints for each table in the database and use them accordingly in my web application. The problem is I don't know how to do it dynamically. There are lots of examples with compile time known database tables, but in this case, I won't have them till the first time my user uses my application.

Answer 1

There is an example that doesn't require a predefined class available here: ODataUntypedSample, but it does require a predefined controller.

I have built on it another console application sample to be able to query any SQL server database using OData. I've used this nuget package to read the database schema and data: DatabaseSchemaReader. You'll need the following nuget package to be able to build it (plus dependencies):

• Microsoft.Owin.Hosting
• Microsoft.Owin.Host.HttpListener
• Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Owin
• Microsoft.AspNet.OData

Here is the main program slightly modified so it declares Edm (for OData) entities from tables. I've tested the standard sample Adventure Works 2014 but it should work on any table hopefully:

class Program {     private static HttpClient client = new HttpClient();     private static TableControllerSelector selector;     private const string ServiceUrl = "http://localhost:12345";     private const string connectionString = @"Server=MYSQLSERVER;Database=AdventureWorks2014;Integrated Security=SSPI";      static void Main(string[] args)     {         using (WebApp.Start(ServiceUrl, Configuration))         {             Console.WriteLine("Server is listening at {0}", ServiceUrl);              RunSample();              Console.WriteLine("Press any key to continue . . .");             Console.ReadKey();         }     }      public static void Configuration(IAppBuilder builder)     {         HttpConfiguration configuration = new HttpConfiguration();          // create a special dynamic controller selector         selector = new TableControllerSelector(configuration);         IEdmModel  model = TableController.GetEdmModel(connectionString, selector);         configuration.Services.Replace(typeof(IHttpControllerSelector), selector);          configuration.MapODataServiceRoute("odata", "odata", model); // needs using System.Web.OData.Extensions         builder.UseWebApi(configuration);     }      public static void RunSample()     {         Console.WriteLine("1. Get Metadata.");         GetMetadata();          Console.WriteLine("\n2. Get Entity Set.");         using (var dbReader = new DatabaseReader(connectionString, "System.Data.SqlClient"))         {             foreach (var table in dbReader.AllTables())             {                 Console.WriteLine("\n 2.1 Get Entity Set '" + table.Name  + "'.");                 GetEntitySet(table.Name);             }         }     }      public static void GetMetadata()     {         HttpResponseMessage response = client.GetAsync(ServiceUrl + "/odata/$metadata").Result;         PrintResponse(response);     }      public static void GetEntitySet(string tableName)     {         HttpResponseMessage response = client.GetAsync(ServiceUrl + "/odata/" + tableName + "?$filter=Id eq 1").Result;         PrintResponse(response);     }      public static void PrintResponse(HttpResponseMessage response)     {         response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();         Console.WriteLine("Response:");         Console.WriteLine(response);          if (response.Content != null)         {             Console.WriteLine(response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result);         }     } } 

And the special TableController and TableControllerSelector classes that allow to create an Edm model from any SQL Server database, and create controllers dynamically from the Edm entities in that model:

public class TableControllerSelector : DefaultHttpControllerSelector {     private Dictionary<string, HttpControllerDescriptor> _tables = new Dictionary<string, HttpControllerDescriptor>(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);      public TableControllerSelector(HttpConfiguration configuration)         : base(configuration)     {         Configuration = configuration;     }      public HttpConfiguration Configuration { get; private set; }      public override HttpControllerDescriptor SelectController(HttpRequestMessage request)     {         string name = GetControllerName(request);         if (name != null) // is it a known table name?         {             HttpControllerDescriptor desc;             if (_tables.TryGetValue(name, out desc))                 return desc;         }          return base.SelectController(request);     }      public void AddTable(string connectionString, DatabaseTable table)     {         if (connectionString == null)             throw new ArgumentNullException("connectionString");          if (table == null)             throw new ArgumentNullException("table");          // create a descriptor with extra properties that the controller needs         var desc = new HttpControllerDescriptor(Configuration, table.Name, typeof(TableController));         desc.Properties["table"] = table;         desc.Properties["connectionString"] = connectionString;         _tables[table.Name] = desc;     } }  public class TableController : ODataController {     // this will be called for standard OData access to collection     public EdmEntityObjectCollection Get()     {         // get Edm type from request         ODataPath path = Request.ODataProperties().Path; // ODataProperties() needs using System.Web.OData.Extensions         IEdmType edmType = path.EdmType;          IEdmCollectionType collectionType = (IEdmCollectionType)edmType;         IEdmEntityType entityType = (IEdmEntityType)collectionType.ElementType.Definition;         IEdmModel model = Request.ODataProperties().Model;          ODataQueryContext queryContext = new ODataQueryContext(model, entityType, path);         ODataQueryOptions queryOptions = new ODataQueryOptions(queryContext, Request);          // TODO: apply the query option on the IQueryable here.          // read all rows from table (could be optimized using query context)         var table = (DatabaseTable)ControllerContext.ControllerDescriptor.Properties["table"];         var cnx = (string)ControllerContext.ControllerDescriptor.Properties["connectionString"];          return new EdmEntityObjectCollection(new EdmCollectionTypeReference(collectionType), ReadData(entityType, table, cnx));     }      public static IList<IEdmEntityObject> ReadData(IEdmEntityType type, DatabaseTable table, string connectionString)     {         List<IEdmEntityObject> list = new List<IEdmEntityObject>();          // https://www.nuget.org/packages/DatabaseSchemaReader/         Reader reader = new Reader(table, connectionString, "System.Data.SqlClient");         reader.Read((r) =>         {             EdmEntityObject obj = new EdmEntityObject(type);             foreach (var prop in type.DeclaredProperties)             {                 int index = r.GetOrdinal(prop.Name);                 object value = r.GetValue(index);                 if (Convert.IsDBNull(value))                 {                     value = null;                 }                 obj.TrySetPropertyValue(prop.Name, value);             }              list.Add(obj);             // uncomment these 2 lines if you're just testing maximum 10 rows on a table              //if (list.Count == 10)             //    return false;              return true;         });         return list;     }      public static IEdmModel GetEdmModel(string connectionString, TableControllerSelector selector)     {         EdmModel model = new EdmModel();          // create and add entity container         EdmEntityContainer container = new EdmEntityContainer("NS", "DefaultContainer");         model.AddElement(container);          // https://www.nuget.org/packages/DatabaseSchemaReader/         using (var dbReader = new DatabaseReader(connectionString, "System.Data.SqlClient"))         {             var schema = dbReader.ReadAll();             foreach (var table in schema.Tables)             {                 EdmEntityType tableType = new EdmEntityType("NS", table.Name);                 foreach (var col in table.Columns)                 {                     var kind = GetKind(col);                     if (!kind.HasValue) // don't map this                         continue;                      var prop = tableType.AddStructuralProperty(col.Name, kind.Value, col.Nullable);                     if (col.IsPrimaryKey)                     {                         tableType.AddKeys(prop);                     }                 }                 model.AddElement(tableType);                  EdmEntitySet products = container.AddEntitySet(table.Name, tableType);                 selector.AddTable(connectionString, table);             }         }          return model;     }      // determine Edm kind from column type     private static EdmPrimitiveTypeKind? GetKind(DatabaseColumn col)     {         var dt = col.DataType;         if (col.DataType == null)             return null;          Type type = col.DataType.GetNetType();         if (type == null)             return null;          if (type == typeof(string))             return EdmPrimitiveTypeKind.String;          if (type == typeof(short))             return EdmPrimitiveTypeKind.Int16;          if (type == typeof(int))             return EdmPrimitiveTypeKind.Int32;          if (type == typeof(long))             return EdmPrimitiveTypeKind.Int64;          if (type == typeof(bool))             return EdmPrimitiveTypeKind.Boolean;          if (type == typeof(Guid))             return EdmPrimitiveTypeKind.Guid;          if (type == typeof(DateTime))             return EdmPrimitiveTypeKind.DateTimeOffset;          if (type == typeof(TimeSpan))             return EdmPrimitiveTypeKind.Duration;          if (type == typeof(decimal))             return EdmPrimitiveTypeKind.Decimal;          if (type == typeof(byte) || type == typeof(sbyte))             return EdmPrimitiveTypeKind.Byte;          if (type == typeof(byte[]))             return EdmPrimitiveTypeKind.Binary;          if (type == typeof(double))             return EdmPrimitiveTypeKind.Double;          if (type == typeof(float))             return EdmPrimitiveTypeKind.Single;          return null;     } }