vs 2013 complains for a data layer direct reference

Question

I created a three tiers project (DAL - BL - MVC4). MVC has a reference to BL and therefore BL has a reference to DL however I am getting an error in the Controller as it is asking for a DAL reference.

This is the error

Error 1 The type 'BJ.Equinox.DAL.Entities.BusinessArea' is defined in an assembly that is not referenced. You must add a reference to assembly 'BJ.Equinox.DAL, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'. C:\Users\hernan\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\BJ.Equinox.OfficialWebSite\BJ.Equinox.Web\BJ.Equinox.Web\Controllers\HomeController.cs 18 13 BJ.Equinox.Web

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As per my understanding, one never reference data layer, just the business layer.

Please help

Blessings to all.

Answer 1

If you use a type in the MVC4 project, that is defined in the DAL, delivered through the BL then the MVC4 project must reference the DAL.

You should consider moving the models into a separate shared assembly, which all the 3 layers could reference. Then the type would be known to all three layers, but the mvc4 would not need to know about DAL. mvc4 layer would just get an populated model from the BL.

Answer 2

Either move the entities to a fourth project like @scheien suggests, or define new, simplified models for the data in the BL. You can always use a mapping component for moving values between these object, like AutoMapper.

Regards