Why AutoMapper?
To Copy data from one model object to other object, which have common or loadable properties.
Let’s see it in Action!
Let’s say we have 2 Model classes UserA and UserB
Class : UserA
public class UserA
{
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public string EmailAddress { get; set; }
}
Class : UserB
public class UserB
{
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public string Email { get; set; }
}
First step is to create Mapping configuration
// Initialize Mappings
var mapConfig = new MapperConfiguration(config =>
{
config.CreateMap<UserA, UserB>()
.ForMember(dest => dest.Email, acton => acton.MapFrom(source => source.EmailAddress));
});
If one can notice in UserA and UserB model classes, LastName and FirstName are of same Named properties in both classes, but Email property name is different.
For Same property name, member mapping configuration is NOT required. But for non matching properties like Email/EmailAddress (as per models above), specific ForMember mapping config is required.
Now, let’s say we have UserA model data filled in
//Fill Source UserA Model
var sourceUser = new UserA()
{
LastName = "Gd",
FirstName = "Sam",
EmailAddress = "gd@sample.com"
};
Lets use AutoMapper config created above to copy sourceUser to UserB model…
var mapper = new Mapper(mapConfig);
// Map to required UserB mode
var destinationUser = mapper.Map<UserB>(sourceUser);
mapper.Map(sourceUser) would copy and create new UserB model.
Full C# console source code…
using System;
using AutoMapper;
namespace AutoMapperSample
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Initialize Mappings
var mapConfig = new MapperConfiguration(config =>
{
config.CreateMap<UserA, UserB>()
.ForMember(dest => dest.Email, acton => acton.MapFrom(source => source.EmailAddress));
});
//Fill Source UserA Model
var sourceUser = new UserA()
{
LastName = "Gd",
FirstName = "Sam",
EmailAddress = "gd@sample.com"
};
var mapper = new Mapper(mapConfig);
// Map to required UserB mode
var destinationUser = mapper.Map<UserB>(sourceUser);
Console.WriteLine($"First Name : {destinationUser.FirstName}" +
$", Last Name : {destinationUser.LastName}" +
$", Email : {destinationUser.Email} ");
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}
Output
Hope this helps!