MVC4 model custom function - asp.net-mvc-4

Question

Sorry for newbie questions, i'm brand new to MVC and OOP
I have the following model for my USER db table
namespace MyApp.Models
{
public class User
{
public int user_id { get; set; }
public string username { get; set; }
public string password { get; set; }
public string salt { get; set; }
public string email { get; set; }
public sbyte status { get; set; }
public System.DateTime creation_date { get; set; }
public sbyte type { get; set; }
public virtual Doctor Doctor { get; set; }
public virtual Owner Owner { get; set; }
public virtual UserToken UserToken { get; set; }
public virtual Veterinarian Veterinarian { get; set; }
}
}
Actually in order to recall a particular USER based on the mail or the id i use a specific class called CustomDbFunctions
namespace MyApp.Models.DAL
{
public static class CustomDbFunctions
{
public static User GetUserEntityFromEmail(string email, DbContext db)
{
return db.Users.FirstOrDefault(u => u.email == (string)email);
}
}
}
in that way i use in my code
User user = CustomDbFunctions.GetUserEntityFromEmail(email, db)
and this it 100% OK with me, but i don't know if this kind of approach is correct or not, or if there's a better way like
//select the single user by calling only the class USER
User mySelectedUser = new User(email)
Thank you very much.

Answer 1

Well for understanding how to access your data in your MVC4 application you could read this tutorial from the Asp.Net MVC main page. Read the whole tutorial about MVC4 and you'll get a solid idea on how to work with it.
But I also recommend this tutorial on a good Entityframework design pattern, it's called Repository Pattern, I just a nice way to get all your code ordered (like all other patterns). Let me know.