In this article I will explain with an example, how to use Linq Skip and Take functions for implementing Paging (Pagination) with Entity Framework in ASP.Net Core.
Database
Here I am making use of Microsoft’s Northwind Database. You can download it from here.
Model
The Model class consists of the following four properties.
public class Customer
{
public string CustomerID { get; set; }
public string ContactName { get; set; }
public string City { get; set; }
public string Country { get; set; }
}
Database Context
Once the Entity Framework is configured and connected to the database table, the Database Context will look as shown below.
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
namespace EF_ServerSide_Paging_Core_MVC
{
public class DBCtx : DbContext
{
public DBCtx(DbContextOptions<DBCtx> options) : base(options)
{
}
public DbSet<Customer> Customers { get; set; }
}
}
Model for fetching Customer records and implementing Paging
The following Model class named CustomerModel consists of three properties.
1. Customers – List collection of the Customer Model which will hold the records of the Customers.
2. CurrentPageIndex – Holds the value of the index of the Current Page.
3. PageCount – This value is calculated using the Maximum Rows to be displayed and the Total Records present in the Table.
public class CustomerModel
{
///<summary>
/// Gets or sets Customers.
///</summary>
public List<Customer> Customers { get; set; }
///<summary>
/// Gets or sets CurrentPageIndex.
///</summary>
public int CurrentPageIndex { get; set; }
///<summary>
/// Gets or sets PageCount.
///</summary>
public int PageCount { get; set; }
}
Controller
The Controller consists of following two Action methods.
Action Method for handling GET operation
Inside this Action method, the GetCustomers method is called with the currentPage parameter value passed as 1, as when the View is accessed for the first time the records of the first page will be displayed and the View is returned.
GetCustomers method
The GetCustomers method accepts currentPage parameter. It has a fixed variable named maxRows which determines the maximum records to be displayed per page.
Note: You can change the value of the maxRows variable as per your requirement and also fetch its value from AppSettings.json, so that you don’t have to modify the code every time. For more details on reading AppSettings from AppSettings.json file, please refer my article .Net Core: Read AppSettings from AppSettings.json file.
Inside the GetCustomers method, first an object of the CustomerModel class is created and then the records are fetched from the Customers table using Entity Framework and are set to the Customers property of the CustomerModel object.
The PageCount value is calculated by dividing the count of the records by the maximum rows to be displayed.
The currentPage parameter value is assigned to the CurrentPageIndex property.
The Paging is performed on the records using the Skip and Take functions.
Skip function
The Skip function accepts the Start Index from the set of records to fetched i.e. if Page Index is 1 then the Start Index will be ( 1 - 1) * 10 = 0.
Example: If Current Page Index is 1 and the Maximum Rows is 10, then the Start Index will be (1 - 1) * 10 = 0
Take function
The Take function will fetch the rows based on the value of the maxRows variable.
Action Method for handling POST operation
Inside this Action method, the value of the CurrentPageIndex is fetched from the Request.Form collection and is passed to the GetCustomers method and the View is returned.
public class HomeController : Controller
{
private DBCtx Context { get; }
public HomeController(DBCtx _context)
{
this.Context = _context;
}
public IActionResult Index()
{
return View(this.GetCustomers(1));
}
[HttpPost]
public IActionResult Index(int currentPageIndex)
{
return View(this.GetCustomers(currentPageIndex));
}
private CustomerModel GetCustomers(int currentPage)
{
int maxRows = 10;
CustomerModel customerModel = new CustomerModel();
customerModel.Customers = (from customer in this.Context.Customers
select customer)
.OrderBy(customer => customer.CustomerID)
.Skip((currentPage - 1) * maxRows)
.Take(maxRows).ToList();
double pageCount = (double)((decimal)this.Context.Customers.Count() / Convert.ToDecimal(maxRows));
customerModel.PageCount = (int)Math.Ceiling(pageCount);
customerModel.CurrentPageIndex = currentPage;
return customerModel;
}
}
View
Inside the View, in the very first line the CustomerModel class is declared as Model for the View.
The ASP.Net TagHelpers is inherited inside the View.
The View consists of an HTML Form which has been created using following ASP.Net Tag Helpers attributes.
asp-action – Name of the Action. In this case the name is Export.
asp-controller – Name of the Controller. In this case the name is Home.
method – It specifies the Form Method i.e. GET or POST. In this case it will be set to POST.
Displaying the Records
For displaying the records, an HTML Table is used. A loop will be executed over the Customers property of the CustomerModel class which will generate the HTML Table rows with the Customer records.
Implementing Pager
For building the Pager, a FOR loop is executed over the PageCount property and an HTML Table is generated with HTML Anchor.
The HTML Anchor is assigned a JavaScript function named PagerClick in the HREF attribute. When the HTML Anchor is clicked PagerClick JavaScript function is executed.
Also, there is an HTML HiddenField element inside the form.
Inside the PagerClick JavaScript function, the Index of the clicked Pager button is set into the HiddenField and then submits the form.
@using EF_ServerSide_Paging_Core_MVC.Models;
@model CustomerModel
@addTagHelper*, Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.TagHelpers
@{
Layout = null;
}
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
<title>Index</title>
</head>
<body>
<form asp-action="Index" asp-controller="Home" method="post">
<h4>Customers</h4>
<hr />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<th>CustomerID</th>
<th>ContactName</th>
<th>City</th>
<th>Country</th>
</tr>
@foreach (Customer customer in Model.Customers)
{
<tr>
<td>@customer.CustomerID</td>
<td>@customer.ContactName</td>
<td>@customer.City</td>
<td>@customer.Country</td>
</tr>
}
</table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
@for (int i = 1; i <= Model.PageCount; i++)
{
<td>
@if (i != Model.CurrentPageIndex)
{
<a href="javascript:PagerClick(@i);">@i</a>
}
else
{
<span>@i</span>
}
</td>
}
</tr>
</table>
<input type="hidden" id="hfCurrentPageIndex" name="currentPageIndex" />
</form>
<script type="text/javascript">
function PagerClick(index) {
document.getElementById("hfCurrentPageIndex").value = index;
document.forms[0].submit();
}
</script>
</body>
</html>
Screenshot
![ASP.Net Core: LINQ Skip and Take Paging with Entity Framework]()
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