Build MVC Applications with Connectivity to Gmail Data

In this article, we will guide you through the process of utilizing wizards within Visual Studio to seamlessly integrate the CData ADO.NET Provider for Gmail into a basic MVC (Model, View, Controller) project.

Create the Entity Framework Model

Follow the steps below to save connection properties and map tables to entities in the data model.

1. Create a new MVC project in Visual Studio. In this example, the project name is MvcGmailApp.

2. If you are using Entity Framework 6, you will need to take the preliminary step of registering the Gmail Entity Framework provider for your project. See the "LINQ and Entity Framework" chapter in the help documentation for a guide.

   Note that MVC 3 scaffolding and MVC 4 scaffolding do not support Entity Framework 6. You can use your scaffolding with Entity Framework 6 by upgrading to the latest version of MVC.

3. To add the .edmx file from the designer, right-click your Models folder and click Add New Item. Select ADO.NET Entity Data Model, name the model, and click Add. In this example, the name of the model is GmailModel.
4. In the Entity Data Model wizard, select the option 'EF Designer from database'. The Entity Data Model wizard is displayed.
5. Click New Connection. Select CData Gmail Data Source in the dialog that is displayed.

6. Specify the required connection string properties.

   There are two ways to authenticate to Gmail. Before selecting one, first ensure that you have enabled IMAP access in your Gmail account settings. See the "Connecting to Gmail" section under "Getting Started" in the installed documentation for a guide.

   The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, can be set to valid Gmail user credentials.

   Alternatively, instead of providing the Password, you can use the OAuth authentication standard. To access Google APIs on behalf on individual users, you can use the embedded credentials or you can register your own OAuth app.

   OAuth also enables you to use a service account to connect on behalf of users in a Google Apps domain. To authenticate with a service account, you will need to register an application to obtain the OAuth JWT values.

   In addition to the OAuth values, you will need to provide the User. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

   A typical connection string is below:

   User=username;Password=password;

7. Name the connection and select whether to include sensitive information, such as connection credentials, in the connection string. For simplicity, this example saves sensitive information in Web.config. The connection settings are saved as GmailEntities.

8. Select the tables and views you need. In this example, Inbox is imported. Also, the option to pluralize object names is deselected in this example. Click Finish to create the .edmx file.
9. Build your project to complete this step.

Scaffold the Controller and Views

Once you've established the model and completed the project build, you can employ ASP.NET Scaffolding wizards to generate both the controller and the views.

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click the controllers folder and click Add -> Controller. Select MVC 5 Controller with views, using Entity Framework.
2. In the Add Controller dialog that is then displayed, select the following options:
   • Model class: Select a table you imported; for example, Inbox.
   • Data context class: Select your context class.
3. Leave the default values for the other fields.