MMABooksEF Project

Project Overview

The MMABooksEF project is a Windows desktop application designed for managing product maintenance in a simulated bookstore inventory system. Built using Entity Framework (EF) with a focus on object-relational mapping (ORM), the application adheres to clean architecture principles and provides a user-friendly interface for managing product data.

The project allows users to perform CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations on products within a SQL database. All product-related data is retrieved, updated, and manipulated using Entity Framework, ensuring seamless database interactions.

---

Features

1. Product Management:

   • Add Products: Add new products to the database.
   • Modify Products: Update product details like description, unit price, and quantity on hand.
   • Delete Products: Remove products from the inventory.
   • Search Products: Search for products by their product code.

2. Forms:

   • Main Form:
     • Displays product details.
     • Includes options for adding, modifying, and deleting products.
     • "Get Product" button for searching products by their code.
   • Add/Modify Form:
     • Used to add or edit product information.
     • Includes input validation to ensure data consistency.

3. Data Validation:

   • Input validation ensures all fields are correctly formatted and required data is entered before submission.

4. Entity Framework Integration:

   • Uses EF to manage database interactions, ensuring clean separation of concerns.

---

Database Schema

The application interacts with the MMABook database, which includes the following tables:

• Products:

  • ProductCode (Primary Key)
  • Description
  • UnitPrice
  • OnHandQuantity

• Customers, Invoices, and Related Tables (part of the extended database schema):

  • These tables simulate a real-world inventory and customer management system but are not directly modified in this application.

---

Technical Specifications

• Framework: .NET Framework
• Programming Language: C#
• Database: SQL Server
• ORM: Entity Framework
• Architecture:
  • Separation of UI and data layers to promote clean architecture.

---

Requirements

• Main Form:

  • Launches first upon application startup.
  • Displays product details and action buttons for CRUD operations.
  • Text fields, except for the product code field, are read-only by default.

• Add/Modify Form:

  • Opens as a modal form.
  • Provides input fields for all product attributes.

• Validation:

  • Validates user input for correctness and completeness.
  • Ensures no invalid data is submitted to the database.

• Database Operations:

  • CRUD operations are implemented via Entity Framework, adhering to best practices for ORM.

---

How to Run

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/RicoRF/MMABooksEF.git

2. Open the solution in Visual Studio.

3. Set up the database connection:

   • Update the connection string in app.config to point to your SQL Server instance.

4. Restore NuGet packages:

   nuget restore

5. Run the application:

   • Press F5 or click Start in Visual Studio.

---

Lessons Learned

This project provided hands-on experience with:

• Designing and implementing a Windows Forms application using .NET.
• Leveraging Entity Framework for database interactions.
• Structuring and validating user input in desktop applications.
• Using modal forms for clean, user-focused workflows.

---

Future Enhancements

• Implement user authentication and role-based access control.
• Add logging for database operations.
• Extend functionality to support customer and invoice management.
• Refactor to use a more modern UI framework like WPF.

---

Author

Federico Ferrante
Passionate full-stack developer with experience in designing and implementing scalable, user-friendly applications.

Feel free to reach out with questions or suggestions via GitHub or LinkedIn.

---

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.