Setting up Enumerated Properties

Several of the pieces of information that we want to collect from the user have a limited number of acceptable choices. For example, the state of the endpoint can only be STARTED, STOPPED, or DISABLED; anything else will lead to a T-SQL error. Rather than prompting the user for freeform input (and running the risk of having them type an unacceptable value), it's much more sensible to offer a list of just the acceptable choices. Fortunately, you can do this by defining an enumerated property.

To set up an enumerated property, you need to define a type that only allows the values you want. You can do this by creating an enumeration. Start by moving to the end of the template and start typing <script which will show you an IntelliPrompt and allow you to autocomplete the script block.

Tip: If you press the tab button or click on the script IntelliPrompt (or any IntelliPrompt) which is shown in the above image, the action will be autocompleted. In this case the script block will be created with an ending script tag.

After the script block has been created, lets create the new enumeration type:

<script runat="template">
Public Enum StateEnum
    STARTED
    STOPPED
    DISABLED
End Enum
</script>

Now you can use a CodeSmith Generator Property directive to define a property that makes use of the new type:

<%@ Property Name="InitialState" Type="StateEnum" Category="Options" Default="STARTED" Description="The initial state of the Web service." %>

There's one more piece that you need to add to make it all work, though. Under the covers, .NET treats enumerations as integers, but you want to insert literal strings in the generated code. To make the translation, you'll also need to add a helper function inside of the script block:

Public Function GetState (ByVal State As StateEnum) As String
    Select Case State
        Case StateEnum.STARTED
            GetState = "STARTED"
        Case StateEnum.STOPPED
            GetState = "STOPPED"
        Case StateEnum.DISABLED
            GetState = "DISABLED"
    End Select
End Function

Having done this, you can get the string corresponding to the user's choice of InitialState property by inserting <%= GetState(InitialState) %> anywhere in the template. After adding enumerations, properties, and helper functions for the authentication and port properties, here's the current state of our template:

<%@ CodeTemplate Language="VB" TargetLanguage="T-SQL" Description="Create an HTTP Endpoint." %>
<%@ Property Name="InitialState" Type="StateEnum" Category="Options" Default="STARTED" Description="The initial state of the Web service." %>
<%@ Property Name="Authentication" Type="AuthenticationEnum" Category="Options" Default="INTEGRATED" Description="Authentication method." %>
<%@ Property Name="Port" Type="PortsEnum" Category="Options" Default="CLEAR" Description="Port to use." %>

CREATE PROC dbo.PersonAddressTypeProc
AS
    SELECT
    AddressTypeID,
    Name,
    rowguid,
    ModifiedDate
    FROM
    Person.AddressType
GO
CREATE ENDPOINT GetAddressType
    STATE = <%= GetState(InitialState) %>
AS HTTP
(
    PATH = '/AddressType',
    AUTHENTICATION = (<%= GetAuthentication(Authentication) %>),
    PORTS = (<%= GetPort(Port) %>),
    SITE = 'localhost'
)
FOR SOAP
(
    WEBMETHOD 'AddressTypeList'
        (NAME='AdventureWorks.dbo.PersonAddressTypeProc'),
    BATCHES = DISABLED,
    WSDL = DEFAULT,
    DATABASE = 'AdventureWorks',
    NAMESPACE = 'http://AdventureWorks/AddressType'
)
GO

<script runat="template">
Public Enum StateEnum
    STARTED
    STOPPED
    DISABLED
End Enum

Public Enum AuthenticationEnum
    BASIC
    DIGEST
    NTLM
    KERBEROS
    INTEGRATED
End Enum

Public Enum PortsEnum
    CLEAR
    SSL
End Enum

Public Function GetState (ByVal State As StateEnum) As String
    Select Case State
        Case StateEnum.STARTED
            GetState = "STARTED"
        Case StateEnum.STOPPED
            GetState = "STOPPED"
        Case StateEnum.DISABLED
            GetState = "DISABLED"
    End Select
End Function

Public Function GetAuthentication (ByVal Authentication As AuthenticationEnum) As String
    Select Case Authentication
        Case AuthenticationEnum.BASIC
            GetAuthentication = "BASIC"
        Case AuthenticationEnum.DIGEST
            GetAuthentication = "DIGEST"
        Case AuthenticationEnum.NTLM
            GetAuthentication = "NTLM"
        Case AuthenticationEnum.KERBEROS
            GetAuthentication = "KERBEROS"
        Case AuthenticationEnum.INTEGRATED
            GetAuthentication = "INTEGRATED"
    End Select
End Function

Public Function GetPort (ByVal Port as PortsEnum) As String
    Select Case Port
        Case PortsEnum.CLEAR
            GetPort = "CLEAR"
        Case PortsEnum.SSL
            GetPort = "SSL"
    End Select
End Function
</script>

So far, so good. But there's still one thing missing: a connection to the database. We'll tackle that next.

Tip: Don't forget to save your template by clicking on the Save icon in Visual Studio or selecting File -> Save from the Visual Studio Menu.

Next: Setting up a SQL Property