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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.