Schema-less table models with EF6 code first from database + Dynamic schema - entity-framework

I have a situation with multiple Dev/Test/Prod databases + Dev has a different schema name, with structure largely the same as test and prod.
I'd like to create code first DbContext with table classes void of schema name(in the Table attribute) and supply the schema at run time.
I have no code sample since the whole DbContext is generated by wizard, but this is what I'm trying to avoid:
[Table("LOC.MY_TABLE")]
public partial class MY_TABLE

Related

Multiple database with the different (database) structure asp.net mvc

I am using MVC 5 with multiple existing database using Entity Framework 6.
The structure is almost the same in each one, except in some case there could be an additional column in a table
Example:
Database_A has table Table_A with Col_1 and Col_2.
Database_B has a newer version of data base structure and has Table_A with Col_1, Col_2 and Col_3
I know how to switch from one database to another but my problem is: How I can make my model that covers both (or more) databases structure?
If you are using entity framework and are writing code that only deals with the columns common to both databases you should have no problem. When you create your db context, just pass it the connection string for the appropriate database and the code should work fine.
Gotchas to be aware of:
1. Creating new records where Col_3 is required. Make sure to have a default value.
2. Using migrations so Entity Framework will try to keep the database matching the model.

EF 6 Migration: How to execute sql SELECT?

In our project we have necessity of adding some predefined data to DB. I think the best way and concept is using for that EF Migrations (not Seed method).
But we have a big troubles with adding related data to DB:
For Example:
Suppose we have 2 tables:
Users:
Id (PK auto increment)
Name
RoleId
Roles:
Id (PK auto increment)
Name
Let's suppose that we need to add User(Name = 'John', RoleId = (Id of role that name is 'Admin')).
How can we do it? It would be great if we find a solution that allows us to execute pure SQL SELECT script which not uses Entities of Code First because they can be modified or removed.
For DELETE, INSERT, UPDATE can be used Sql(...) method but what about SELECT?
You cannot have a context into the migration.
Logically first are ran the migrations to Update the DB Schema, then you can have a context to work with the data via it. If your DB does not match the model, or even the table is still not there, you cannot use it in EF.
I had to look into the EF code (and also because was curious). Practically the Sql() method in the DbMigration class in several levels below just adds the SQL string into a list of queries that should be executed into the transaction and moves on. It does not executes it when it is called. So in short EF just fills in a list of codes lines that should be executed in the end at once. And it seems correct if you try to walk in all paths of what you can do with the C# code in the migration code.
The question is quite good actually, unfortunately still I didn't found any better solution rather than using pure ADO.
Another option is to generate more custom SQL queries, and use T-SQL more widely.
For your case as you want to insert the user and set the groupId looking by the name, it can be used with inner select:
INSERT INTO Users (Name, GroupId)
VALUES ('John', RoleId = (SELECT Id FROM Roles WHERE Name = 'Admin')).
For my issue, I had to a bit do more sophisticated execution - the following does the same as the AddOrUpdate method of the DbSet, using the IF statement:
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM Table1 WHERE Column1='SomeValue')
UPDATE Table1 SET (...) WHERE Column1='SomeValue'
ELSE
INSERT INTO Table1 VALUES (...)
I found it here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/miah/archive/2008/02/17/sql-if-exists-update-else-insert.aspx
I'm using good old LINQ for this:
public override void Up()
{
using (var dc = new DbContext("your connection string or name"))
{
var ids = dc.Database.SqlQuery<int>("SELECT id FROM sometable WHERE somefield={0}", 42).ToArray();
...
}
}
Using LINQ is better, even for usual migrations, because, there is a bug in DbMigration.Sql method, it ignores arguments: How to pass parameters to DbMigration.Sql() Method

Entity Framework Generate Database Schema (SQL) with Default Table Values

I am using EF 5 and SQL Server 2005, Model First (sort of).
By sort of, I mean that I typically build my schema in the SQL Server designer, but import the schema into EF so I have a visual view. There is often round-tripping.
However, I noticed that when I try to generate the DB schema based on the EF model, it skips all of the NEWID() default values that I have assigned as default values to my Guid IDs, but it doesn't skip the identity fields of type int.
I found this post explaining the reasoning for this:
Entity Framework 4 and Default Values
However, it doesn't answer my question: How do I get Entity Framework to generate a SQL DDL database schema with default values of NEWID() for my uniqueidentifier types?
NOTE:
I don't care about how to set them from the POCO entities and so forth (there are plenty of posts describing that) - my concern is getting the SQL DDL generated right so I can seed the database without worrying about these values going missing.
Using Entity Framework Migrations, you can use the GUID column builder and its DefaultValueSql parameter. The value of that parameter can be the string "NEWID()". This should take care of proper DDL generation.
Next you should declare these properties as database-generated using attributes or the fluent model builder, so that EF ignores the values set in your POCOs (which will be null for new objects).

Entity Framework : junction tables with own primary keys

Ì am currently working on a ASP NET MVC project. We use Entity Framework and follow the Database First approach. The database already exists.
The database has been created using the convention, that every table has a specified single primary key, even if it is a junction table.
Example :
Table User :
UserId (PK);
Username
Table UserRole :
UserRoleId (PK);
UserId (FK);
RoleId (FK)
Table Role :
RoleId (PK);
Rolename
As said, the database already exists and this convention is not discussable.
When I want to create an Entity Data Model in Visual Studio, I also have three Entities. But it would only make sense to have two Entities: User and Role. The UserRole Entity makes no sense.
Is there any possibility I can influence the way that Entity Framework maps my tables, so I can get rid of those relational (useless) entities?
Is there any possibility I can influence the way that Entity Framework
maps my tables, so I can get rid of those relational (useless)
entities?
No, you cannot force EF designer to do that. When using automatic tools you will always end with junction table mapped as a separate entity because it is not considered as junction table any more - it has special data (a separate key) which gives this entity new possibilities (for example relation between two entities can exist multiple times which is not possible with normal junction table).
The only way to avoid this is abandon tooling support and use either code mapping or manually write EDMX file and don't tell EF about that additional key. Instead let EF believe that there are only those two FKs forming composite PK as expected from junction table. Obviously if your database requires those special possibilities allowed by separate PK you cannot do this.

What's the use Overriding Table Setup Methods?

In Zend Framework you can override table setup methods as explained here:
http://framework.zend.com/manual/en/zend.db.table.html#zend.db.table.defining.setup
My question is what is the use of this? Under what circumstances would this be used?
It seems pointless to me because why would you want to change the primarykey value or tablename of your class to something other than what they actually are?
You might want to use the same Zend_Db_Table class with different scenarios. In my case, I needed to use the same table structure across different schemas and table names for a project. So, I could use the same class to access, for instance:
In schema db1:
table tableA
table tableB
...
In schema db2:
table tableC
table tableD
...
(All tables having the same structure, but different names).
Actually, this flexibility was the main reason why I chose to use Zend Framework for this project.
Hope that helps,