ASP MVC Data Annotations and database null values

Question

I have a asp mvc 5 project and have created the database using code first and data migrations. This is my current product POCO class ``` public class Product { [Key] public int ProductId { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage = "Please add a product name.")] [StringLength(50)] public string Name { get; set; } public string Code { get; set; } [DataType(DataType.MultilineText)] public string Description { get; set; } public string Features { get; set; } public decimal Price { get; set; } public bool? Promotion { get; set; } [Display(Name = "Category")] public int CategoryId { get; set; } public virtual Category Category { get; set; } [Display(Name = "Brand")] public int BrandId { get; set; } public virtual Brand Brand { get; set; } public byte[] ImageData { get; set; } [HiddenInput(DisplayValue = false)] public string ImageMimeType { get; set; } } ``` In the database the only values that are not null, is the primary key and the name. I am having a problem with the Price, Category and Bran…

Accepted Answer

You need to make the properties that you want to be optional of a NULLABLE type.

```
public decimal? Price { get; set; }
public int? CategoryId { get; set; }
public int? BrandId { get; set; }
```

This way, the validator will not trigger... and if you think about it for a moment, it makes sense... the default value for an int is 0... but you actually want a NULL in your database.

ASP MVC Data Annotations and database null values

Solution

Problem