Bind Data from RESTful Web Services to Syncfusion Blazor Components

1 Feb 202421 minutes to read

In this topic, you can learn how to retrieve data from RESTful web services, bind data to a Grid component, and perform CRUD operations. Here, data is fetched from the ODataV4 service using ODataV4Adaptor of SfDataManger.

It is recommended to choose the suitable adaptor based on the RESTful service which you are using to bind data for the Syncfusion Blazor component. Refer to the following documentation to know about the available Adaptors of SfDataManager.

Adaptors

Prerequisite software

The following software are needed

Visual Studio 2022.
.NET 6.0 or later.

Create the database

Open Visual Studio , select View -> SQL Server Object Explorer. Right-click on the Databases folder to create a new Database and name it as OrdersDetails.

Add new database in Blazor
Adding database name and location in Blazor

Right-click on the Tables folder of the created database and click Add New Table.

Add table in Blazor

Use the following query to add a new table named Orders.

Create Table Orders(
 OrderID BigInt Identity(1,1) Primary Key Not Null,
 CustomerID Varchar(100) Not Null,
 Freight int Null,
 OrderDate datetime null
)

Now, the Orders table design will look like below. Click on the Update button.

Database table design in Blazor

Now, click on Update Database.

Update database in Blazor

Create OData service project

Open Visual Studio 2022 and create an empty ASP.NET Core Web Application and name it as ODataServiceProject. After creating the application, install Microsoft.AspNetCore.OData package by running the following command in the Package Manager Console.

Install-Package Microsoft.AspNetCore.OData -Version 8.2.3

This package contains everything you need to create OData v4.0 endpoints using ASP.NET Core MVC and to support OData query syntax for your web APIs.

Generate DbContext and model class from the database

Now, you need to scaffold DbContext and model classes from the existing OrdersDetails database. To perform scaffolding and work with the SQL Server database in our application, install the following NuGet packages.

Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools : This package creates database context and model classes from the database.
Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer :The database provider that allows Entity Framework Core to work with SQL Server.

Run the following commands in the Package Manager Console.

Install-Package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools -Version 7.0.11
Install-Package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer -Version 7.0.11

Once the above packages are installed, you can scaffold DbContext and Model classes. Run the following command in the Package Manager Console.

Scaffold-DbContext “Data Source=(localdb)\MSSQLLocalDB;Initial Catalog=OrdersDetails;Integrated Security=True;Connect Timeout=30;Encrypt=False;TrustServerCertificate=False;ApplicationIntent=ReadWrite;MultiSubnetFailover=False” Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer -OutputDir Models

The above scaffolding command contains the following details for creating DbContext and model classes for the existing database and its tables.

Connection string: Data Source=(localdb)\MSSQLLocalDB;Initial Catalog=OrdersDetails;Integrated Security=True;Connect Timeout=30;Encrypt=False;TrustServerCertificate=False;ApplicationIntent=ReadWrite;MultiSubnetFailover=False
Data provider: Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer
Output directory: -OutputDir Models

After running the above command, the OrdersDetailsContext.cs and Orders.cs files will be created under the ODataServiceProject.Models folder as follows.

Models folder in Blazor

You can see that OrdersDetailsContext.cs file contains the connection string details in the OnConfiguring method.

OrdersDetailsContext.cs
using System;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata;

namespace ODataServiceProject.Models
{
    public partial class OrdersDetailsContext : DbContext
    {
        public OrdersDetailsContext()
        {
        }

        public OrdersDetailsContext(DbContextOptions<OrdersDetailsContext> options)
            : base(options)
        {
        }

        public virtual DbSet<Orders> Orders { get; set; }

        protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder optionsBuilder)
        {
            if (!optionsBuilder.IsConfigured)
            {
                optionsBuilder.UseSqlServer("Data Source=(localdb)\\MSSQLLocalDB;Initial Catalog=OrdersDetails;Integrated Security=True;Connect Timeout=30;Encrypt=False;TrustServerCertificate=False;ApplicationIntent=ReadWrite;MultiSubnetFailover=False");
            }
        }

        ...
    }
}

It is not recommended to have a connection string with sensitive information in the OrdersDetailsContext.cs file, so the connection string is moved to the appsettings.json file.

appsettings.json
{
  "Logging": {
    "LogLevel": {
      "Default": "Information",
      "Microsoft.AspNetCore": "Warning"
    }
  },
  "AllowedHosts": "*",
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "OrdersDetailsDatabase": "Data Source=(localdb)\\MSSQLLocalDB;Initial Catalog=OrdersDetails;Integrated Security=True;Connect Timeout=30;Encrypt=False;TrustServerCertificate=False;ApplicationIntent=ReadWrite;MultiSubnetFailover=False"
  }
}

Now, the DbContext must be configured using connection string and registered as scoped service using the AddDbContext method in Program.cs.

.NET 6 & .NET 7 (~/Program.cs)
builder.Services.AddDbContext<OrdersDetailsContext>(option =>
                option.UseSqlServer(builder.Configuration.GetConnectionString("OrdersDetailsDatabase")));

Creating ODataV4 service

The application is now configured to connect with the OrdersDetails database using Entity Framework. Now, it’s time to consume data from the OrdersDetails database. To do so, you need an OData controller to serve data from the DbContext to the Blazor application.

To create OData controller, right-click Controller folder in ODataServiceProject and select Add -> New Item -> API controller with read/write actions. We are naming this controller as OrdersController as it returns Orders table records.

Now, replace the controller with the following code which contains code to handle CRUD operations in the Orders table.

OrdersController.cs
using Microsoft.AspNet.OData;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using ODataServiceProject.Models;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;

// For more information on enabling Web API for empty projects, visit https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=397860

namespace ODataServiceProject.Controllers
{
    [Route("api/[controller]")]
    public class OrdersController : ODataController
    {
        private OrdersDetailsContext _db;
        public OrdersController(OrdersDetailsContext context)
        {
            _db = context;
        }
        [HttpGet]
        [EnableQuery]
        public IActionResult Get()
        {
            return Ok(_db.Orders);
        }
        [EnableQuery]
        public async Task<IActionResult> Post([FromBody] Orders book)
        {
            _db.Orders.Add(book);
            _db.SaveChanges();
            return Created(book);
        }
        [EnableQuery]
        public async Task<IActionResult> Patch([FromODataUri] long key, [FromBody] Delta<Orders> book)
        {
            var entity = await _db.Orders.FindAsync(key);
            book.Patch(entity);
            await _db.SaveChangesAsync();
            return Updated(entity);
        }
        [EnableQuery]
        public long Delete([FromODataUri] long key)
        {
            var deleterow = _db.Orders.Find(key);
            _db.Orders.Remove(deleterow);
            _db.SaveChanges();
            return key;
        }
    }
}

Add the following line in the launchSettings.json file.

launchSettings.json
{
  "iisSettings": {
    "windowsAuthentication": false,
    "anonymousAuthentication": true,
    "iisExpress": {
      "applicationUrl": "http://localhost:59323",
      "sslPort": 44392
    }
  },
  "profiles": {
    "IIS Express": {
      "commandName": "IISExpress",
      "launchBrowser": true,
      "launchUrl": "odata/orders",
      "environmentVariables": {
        "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development"
      }
    },
    "ODataServiceProject": {
      "commandName": "Project",
      "dotnetRunMessages": "true",
      "launchBrowser": true,
      "applicationUrl": "https://localhost:5001;http://localhost:5000",
      "environmentVariables": {
        "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development"
      }
    }
  }
}

Additionally, make sure to include the AddCors() and UseCors() methods in Program.cs file of ODataService project when configuring with a Blazor Web App.
Open Program.cs file in .NET 6 and .NET 7 application and configure by referring to the following codes.

.NET 6 & .NET 7 (~/Program.cs)
var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Add services to the container.

static IEdmModel GetEdmModel()
{
    ODataConventionModelBuilder builder = new ODataConventionModelBuilder();
    var books = builder.EntitySet<Orders>("Orders");
    FunctionConfiguration myFirstFunction = books.EntityType.Collection.Function("MyFirstFunction");
    myFirstFunction.ReturnsCollectionFromEntitySet<Orders>("Orders");
    return builder.GetEdmModel();
}

builder.Services.AddControllers();
// Learn more about configuring Swagger/OpenAPI at https://aka.ms/aspnetcore/swashbuckle
builder.Services.AddEndpointsApiExplorer();
builder.Services.AddSwaggerGen(c =>
{
    c.SwaggerDoc("v1", new() { Title = "ODataTutorial", Version = "v1" });
});
builder.Services.AddDbContext<OrdersDetailsContext>(option =>
                option.UseSqlServer(builder.Configuration.GetConnectionString("OrdersDetailsDatabase")));
builder.Services.AddControllers().AddOData(opt => opt.AddRouteComponents("odata", GetEdmModel()).Count().Filter().OrderBy().Expand().Select().SetMaxTop(null));
//if your configured with Blazor Web App only, call AddCors method
builder.Services.AddCors(options =>
{
    options.AddPolicy("NewPolicy", builder =>
    builder.AllowAnyOrigin()
        .AllowAnyMethod()
        .AllowAnyHeader());
});
var app = builder.Build();

//if your configured with Blazor Web App only, call UseCors method
if (app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    app.UseSwagger();
    app.UseSwaggerUI();
}
app.UseHttpsRedirection();
app.UseCors("NewPolicy");
app.UseAuthorization();

app.MapControllers();

app.Run();

Create Blazor Web App

You can create a Blazor Web App using Visual Studio 2022 via Microsoft Templates or the Syncfusion Blazor Extension.

You need to configure the corresponding Interactive render mode and Interactivity location while creating a Blazor Web Application.

Create Blazor Server Application

You can create a Blazor Server App using Visual Studio via Microsoft Templates or the Syncfusion Blazor Extension.

Add Syncfusion Blazor Grid and Themes NuGet in Blazor App

To add Blazor DataGrid component in the app, open the NuGet package manager in Visual Studio (Tools → NuGet Package Manager → Manage NuGet Packages for Solution), search and install Syncfusion.Blazor.Grid and Syncfusion.Blazor.Themes.

If you utilize WebAssembly or Auto render modes in the Blazor Web App need to be install Syncfusion Blazor components NuGet packages within the client project.

Alternatively, you can utilize the following package manager command to achieve the same.

Package Manager
Install-Package Syncfusion.Blazor.Grid -Version 26.2.4
Install-Package Syncfusion.Blazor.Themes -Version 26.2.4

NOTE

Syncfusion Blazor components are available in nuget.org. Refer to NuGet packages topic for available NuGet packages list with component details.

Open ~/_Imports.razor file and import the following namespace.

RAZOR

@using Syncfusion.Blazor
@using Syncfusion.Blazor.Grids

Now, register the Syncfusion Blazor Service in the ~/Program.cs file of your App.

For a Blazor Web App with WebAssembly or Auto (Server and WebAssembly) interactive render mode, register the Syncfusion Blazor service in both ~/Program.cs files of your web app.

....
using Syncfusion.Blazor;
....
builder.Services.AddSyncfusionBlazor();
....

Themes provide life to components. Syncfusion Blazor has different themes. They are:

Bootstrap5
Material 3
Tailwind CSS
High Contrast
Fluent

In this demo application, the latest theme will be used.

For Blazor Web App, refer stylesheet inside the <head> of ~/Components/App.razor file for .NET 8.
For Blazor WebAssembly application, refer stylesheet inside the <head> element of wwwroot/index.html file.
For Blazor Server application, refer stylesheet inside the <head> element of
- ~/Pages/_Host.cshtml file for .NET 7.
- ~/Pages/_Layout.cshtml file for .NET 6.

CSHTML

<link href="_content/Syncfusion.Blazor.Themes/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet" />

For Blazor Web App, reference scripts in end of <body>section at ~/Components/App.razor file.
For Blazor WASM App, reference scripts in end of <body>section at ~/wwwroot/index.html file.
For Blazor Server App, reference scripts in end of <body>section at ~/Pages/_Layout.cshtml file for .NET 6 project and in ~/Pages/_Host.cshtml file for .NET 7 project.

<body>
    ....
    <script src="_content/Syncfusion.Blazor.Core/scripts/syncfusion-blazor.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</body>

Add Syncfusion Blazor DataGrid component to an application

In previous steps, you have successfully configured the Syncfusion Blazor package in the application. Now, you can add the grid component to the .razor page inside the Pages folder.

If you have set the interactivity location to Per page/component in the web app, ensure that you define a render mode at the top of the Syncfusion Blazor component-included razor page as follows:

RAZOR

@* Your App render mode define here *@
@rendermode InteractiveAuto

RAZOR
<SfGrid TValue="Orders"></SfGrid>

Binding data to Blazor DataGrid component using ODataV4Adaptor

To consume data from the OData Controller, you need to add the SfDataManager with ODataV4Adaptor. Refer to the following documentation for more details on ODataV4Adaptor.

ODataV4Adaptor

RAZOR
<SfGrid TValue="Orders">
    <SfDataManager Url="https://localhost:44392/odata/orders" Adaptor="Adaptors.ODataV4Adaptor"></SfDataManager>
</SfGrid>

NOTE

In the above code example, we have used our localhost address from our application. Instead of localhost, you can give the exact URL of your OData service.

Grid columns can be defined by using the GridColumn component. We are going to create columns using the following code.

RAZOR
<SfGrid TValue="Orders">
    <SfDataManager Url="https://localhost:44392/odata/orders" Adaptor="Adaptors.ODataV4Adaptor"></SfDataManager>
    <GridColumns>
        <GridColumn Field=@nameof(Orders.OrderId) HeaderText="Order ID" IsPrimaryKey="true" Visible="false" TextAlign="TextAlign.Right" Width="120"></GridColumn>
        <GridColumn Field=@nameof(Orders.CustomerId) HeaderText="Customer Name" Width="150"></GridColumn>
        <GridColumn Field=@nameof(Orders.OrderDate) HeaderText=" Order Date" Format="d" Type="ColumnType.Date" TextAlign="TextAlign.Right" Width="130"></GridColumn>
        <GridColumn Field=@nameof(Orders.Freight) HeaderText="Freight" Format="C2" TextAlign="TextAlign.Right" Width="120"></GridColumn>
    </GridColumns>
</SfGrid>

@code {
    public class Order
    {
        public long OrderId { get; set; }

        public string CustomerId { get; set; } = null!;

        public int? Freight { get; set; }

        public DateTime? OrderDate { get; set; }
    }
}

When you run the application, the Get() method will be called in your OData controller.

C#
[Route("api/[controller]")]
public class OrdersController : ODataController
{
    private OrdersDetailsContext _db;
    public OrdersController(OrdersDetailsContext context)
    {
        _db = context;
    }
    [HttpGet]
    [EnableQuery]
    public IActionResult Get()
    {
        return Ok(_db.Orders);
    }
    ...
}

Handling CRUD operations with our Syncfusion Blazor DataGrid component

You can enable editing in the grid component using the GridEditSettings component. Grid provides various modes of editing options such as Inline/Normal, Dialog, and Batch editing.

Here, we are using Inline edit mode and used Toolbar property to show toolbar items for editing.
We have added the DataGrid Editing and Toolbar code with previous Grid model.

RAZOR
<SfGrid TValue="Orders" Toolbar="@(new List<string>() { "Add", "Edit", "Delete", "Cancel", "Update" })">
    <SfDataManager Url="https://localhost:44392/odata/orders" Adaptor="Adaptors.ODataV4Adaptor"></SfDataManager>
    <GridEditSettings AllowAdding="true" AllowDeleting="true" AllowEditing="true" Mode="EditMode.Normal"></GridEditSettings>
    <GridColumns>
        <GridColumn Field=@nameof(Orders.OrderId) HeaderText="Order ID" IsPrimaryKey="true" Visible="false" TextAlign="TextAlign.Right" Width="120"></GridColumn>
        <GridColumn Field=@nameof(Orders.CustomerId) HeaderText="Customer Name" Width="150"></GridColumn>
        <GridColumn Field=@nameof(Orders.OrderDate) HeaderText=" Order Date" Format="d" Type="ColumnType.Date" TextAlign="TextAlign.Right" Width="130"></GridColumn>
        <GridColumn Field=@nameof(Orders.Freight) HeaderText="Freight" Format="C2" TextAlign="TextAlign.Right" Width="120"></GridColumn>
    </GridColumns>
</SfGrid>

@code {
    public class Order
    {
        public long OrderId { get; set; }

        public string CustomerId { get; set; } = null!;

        public int? Freight { get; set; }

        public DateTime? OrderDate { get; set; }
    }
}

NOTE

Normal editing is the default edit mode for the DataGrid component. Set the IsPrimaryKey property of Column as true for a particular column, whose value is a unique value for editing purposes.

Insert a row

To insert a new row, click the Add toolbar button. The new record edit form will look like below.

Insert Operation in Blazor

Clicking the Update toolbar button will insert the record in the Orders table by calling the below POST method of the OData controller.

OrdersController.cs
public async Task<IActionResult> Post([FromBody] Orders book)
{
    _db.Orders.Add(book);
    _db.SaveChanges();
    return Created(book);
}

Insert Operation in Blazor

Update a row

To edit a row, select any row and click the Edit toolbar button. The edit form will look like below. Edit the Customer Name column.

Update Operation in Blazor

Clicking the Update toolbar button will update the record in the Orders table by calling the below PATCH method of the OData controller.

OrdersController.cs
public async Task<IActionResult> Patch([FromODataUri] long key, [FromBody] Delta<Orders> book)
{
    var entity = await _db.Orders.FindAsync(key);
    book.Patch(entity);
    await _db.SaveChangesAsync();
    return Updated(entity);
}

The resultant grid will look like below.

Update Operation in Blazor

Delete a row

To delete a row, select any row and click the Delete toolbar button. Deleting operation will send a DELETE request to the OData controller with the selected record’s primary key value to remove the corresponding record from the Orders table.

OrdersController.cs
public long Delete([FromODataUri] long key)
{
    var deleterow = _db.Orders.Find(key);
    _db.Orders.Remove(deleterow);
    _db.SaveChanges();
    return key;
}

NOTE

Find the sample from this Github location.