Copying properties between two classes

Question

I have an ASP.NET MVC 5 app and I map properties between model and viewmodel and vice versa.

I could use automapper to do this but since I don't need mapping rules to convince me to use it as I mostly do simple 1 to 1 mapping the performance overhead that automapper will add is not worthwhile. If I have mapping differences I'll map it manually where I reference it in my controller.

Here is my code

public class Dog
{
    public int Id { get; set; }

    public string Name { get; set; }

    public DateTime? BirthDate { get; set; }

    public int? CreatedBy{ get; set; }

    public DateTime? DateCreated { get; set; }
}

public class DogViewModel
{
    public int Id { get; set; }

    public string Name { get; set; }

    public DateTime? BirthDate { get; set; }


    public static implicit operator DogViewModel(Dog dm)
    {
        var vm= new DogViewModel{
            Id = dm.Id,
            Name = dm.Name,
            BirthDate = dm.BirthDate 
       };
        return vm;
    }

   public static implicit operator Dog(DogViewModel vm)
   {
       var dm = new Dog
       {
            Id = vm.Id,
            Name = vm.Name,
            BirthDate = vm.BirthDate 
        };
        return dm;
    }
}

Question: Is there a way to use a common mapping method in my ViewModel class or some other way to so that I don't have to duplicate code for copying properties?

Answer 1

Good for you for resisting the temptations of Automapper.

My answer to your question is to design around it.

I often write my viewmodels generically so I don't have to copy properties. This does not work in every case but works in more cases than you might think. Your viewmodel might become something like this:

public class BaseViewModel<T>  
{
    public T Model {get; set;}

    public BaseViewModel( T model)
    {
        this.Model = model;
    }
}

public class DogViewModel : BaseViewModel<Dog>
{
    public DogViewModel(Dog dog) : base(dog)
    {

    }

    public void DoSomething()
    {
        // do something with Dog object...
        Model.Weight = 10;
    }

}

I wrote a little about it on my site: http://www.samwheat.com/Post/The-function-of-ViewModels-in-MVC-web-development