I have "Roach Motel Data" - data go into DB fine, cannot get back out - entity-framework

I'm using Xamarin.Forms with EF and SqLite. I've installed the "Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Sqlite" Nuget package in my project. The code issue is in the shared code project, .NetStandard 2.0.
I have created a simple class, let's say CAT class to hold my DB table objects
I can use the "ensurecreated" command and that works fine
I can create a CAT, set properties and SaveChanges() to the DB; this works fine, I can see the data in the DB
I cannot get the data back out; I get an "object not set to a reference..." error.
Ignore my couple of outer curly braces; new to posting code and only way to get it all together in one block. I have handled the platform-specific (Android & iOS) code for obtaining the dbPath to the SqLite .db3 file (not shown here).
Cannot figure what I'm missing that no data will come back out of DB. Any help much appreciated!
{
public class DatabaseContext : DbContext
{
string _dbPath;
public DbSet<Cat> Cats { get; set; }
public DatabaseContext(string dbPath)
{
_dbPath = dbPath;
Database.EnsureCreatedAsync();
}
public async Task<IEnumerable<Cat>> GetCats()
{
var allCats = await Cats.ToListAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
return allCats;
}
protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder optionsBuilder)
{
optionsBuilder.UseSqlite($"Filename={_dbPath}");
}
}
List<Cat> itemSource;
// Create Database & Tables
using (var db = new DatabaseContext(App.dbPath))
{
// Ensure database is created
db.Database.EnsureCreated();
// Insert Data
db.Add(new Cat() { IdCat = "111", Fname = "Felix1" });
db.SaveChanges();
// Retreive Data
//method 1
// RESULT: no data are in "itemsource", info reads "exception count = 1"
itemSource = db.Cats.ToList();
// method 2
// RESULTS: crashes with error "System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object."
Task<IEnumerable<Cat>> p = db.GetCats();
itemSource = db.Cats.ToList();
}
}

Related

Create database with data

I'm trying to create my database (code first) and I want to add some data in it when it's created.
public class InitializerWithData : CreateDatabaseIfNotExists<DatabaseContext>
{
protected override void Seed(DatabaseContext ctx)
{
GroupType gt = new GroupType() { Name = "RNC" };
//save
ctx.GroupType.Add(gt);
ctx.SaveChanges();
}
}
public DatabaseContext()
{
Database.SetInitializer<DatabaseContext>(new InitializerWithData());
Database.CreateIfNotExists();
}
As you can see I wrote my custom initializer but the code inside it is never fired though the database does get created.
So how do I solve this?
When you call Database.CreateIfNotExists(), it doesn't trigger the InitializeDatabase of the initializer. Basically it has separated implementation than the initializer.
If you want the Seed method to be fired. You need to execute a code that causes EF to send a query to the database.
First remove this line.
Database.CreateIfNotExists();
Then just execute a query, the least you could have is something like.
using(var db = new DatabaseContext())
{
db.Set<GroupType>().Any();
}
This code will create the database if it doesn't exist and execute the Seed method.

DaoException: Entity is detached from DAO context

I have two entities, User and Store. User has many Stores (1:M) relation. I've inserted some stores list into the store table by following code.
public void saveStoresToDatabase(Context context, ArrayList<Store> storeList) {
DevOpenHelper helper = new DaoMaster.DevOpenHelper(context, "notes-db", null);
SQLiteDatabase db = helper.getWritableDatabase();
DaoMaster daoMaster = new DaoMaster(db);
DaoSession daoSession = daoMaster.newSession();
StoreDao storeDao = daoSession.getStoreDao();
ArrayList <Store> list = SharedData.getInstance().getUser().getStoreList();
for(int i = 0; i < storeList.size(); i++) {
storeList.get(i).setUserIdForStore(SharedData.getInstance().getUser().getId());
}
storeDao.insertOrReplaceInTx(storeList);
list.addAll(storeList);
user.resetStoreList();
}
I am getting "entity is detached from DAO context" exception whenever I try call user.getStoreList(). The exception occurs at following code sniped as the daoSession is null.
public ArrayList<Store> getDMStoreListFromDatabase(Context context) {
return SharedData.getInstance().getUser().getStoreList();
}
where SharedData is my singleton, having a user object:
private SharedData() {
user = new User();
}
and I get the sharedData instance as follow:
public static synchronized SharedData getInstance() {
if (sharedObject == null) {
sharedObject = new SharedData();
}
return sharedObject;
}
Objects representing database entries (like User) are only attached to a Database-session if they have been fetched from the database or inserted to the database before.
It looks like you don't load your user-object using greendao, but instead just create it with new.
You also seem not to store this user-object using the dao. Thus the user-object is not attached to the session.
On top of that you are also just setting the userid in each store. If you haven't inserted the user-object somewhere else this may also cause an error since the foreignkey-constraint may be broken (depending on how greendao handles this internally).
Try to add the user-object to the stores with setUser() instead of setUserIdForStore().
If this doesn't work try to store or load the user-object first using a UserDao.

Entity Framework MigrateDatabaseToLatestVersion giving error

I am attempting to use Entity Framework code based migrations with my web site. I currently have a solution with multiple projects in it. There is a Web API project which I want to initialize the database and another project called the DataLayer project. I have enabled migrations in the DataLayer project and created an initial migration that I am hoping will be used to create the database if it does not exist.
Here is the configuration I got when I enabled migrations
public sealed class Configuration : DbMigrationsConfiguration<Harris.ResidentPortal.DataLayer.ResidentPortalContext>
{
public Configuration()
{
AutomaticMigrationsEnabled = false;
}
protected override void Seed(Harris.ResidentPortal.DataLayer.ResidentPortalContext context)
{
// This method will be called after migrating to the latest version.
// You can use the DbSet<T>.AddOrUpdate() helper extension method
// to avoid creating duplicate seed data. E.g.
//
// context.People.AddOrUpdate(
// p => p.FullName,
// new Person { FullName = "Andrew Peters" },
// new Person { FullName = "Brice Lambson" },
// new Person { FullName = "Rowan Miller" }
// );
//
}
}
The only change I made to this after it was created was to change it from internal to public so the WebAPI could see it and use it in it's databaseinitializer. Below is the code in the code in the Application_Start that I am using to try to initialize the database
Database.SetInitializer(new MigrateDatabaseToLatestVersion<ResidentPortalContext, Configuration>());
new ResidentPortalUnitOfWork().Context.Users.ToList();
If I run this whether or not a database exists I get the following error
Directory lookup for the file "C:\Users\Dave\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\ResidentPortal\Harris.ResidentPortal.WebApi\App_Data\Harris.ResidentPortal.DataLayer.ResidentPortalContext.mdf" failed with the operating system error 2(The system cannot find the file specified.).
CREATE DATABASE failed. Some file names listed could not be created. Check related errors.
It seems like it is looking in the totally wrong place for the database. It seems to have something to do with this particular way I am initializing the database because if I change the code to the following.
Database.SetInitializer(new DropCreateDatabaseAlways<ResidentPortalContext>());
new ResidentPortalUnitOfWork().Context.Users.ToList();
The database will get correctly created where it needs to go.
I am at a loss for what is causing it. Could it be that I need to add something else to the configuration class or does it have to do with the fact that all my migration information is in the DataLayer project but I am calling this from the WebAPI project?
I have figured out how to create a dynamic connection string for this process. You need to first add this line into your EntityFramework entry on Web or App.Config instead of the line that gets put there by default.
<defaultConnectionFactory type="<Namespace>.<ConnectionStringFacotry>, <Assembly>"/>
This tells the program you have your own factory that will return a DbConnection. Below is the code I used to make my own factory. Part of this is a hack to get by the fact that a bunch of programmers work on the same set of code but some of us use SQL Express while others use full blown SQL Server. But this will give you an example to go by for what you need.
public sealed class ResidentPortalConnectionStringFactory: IDbConnectionFactory
{
public DbConnection CreateConnection(string nameOrConnectionString)
{
SqlConnectionStringBuilder builder = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["PortalDatabase"].ConnectionString);
//save off the original catalog
string originalCatalog = builder.InitialCatalog;
//we're going to connect to the master db in case the database doesn't exist yet
builder.InitialCatalog = "master";
string masterConnectionString = builder.ToString();
//attempt to connect to the master db on the source specified in the config file
using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(masterConnectionString))
{
try
{
conn.Open();
}
catch
{
//if we can't connect, then append on \SQLEXPRESS to the data source
builder.DataSource = builder.DataSource + "\\SQLEXPRESS";
}
finally
{
conn.Close();
}
}
//set the connection string back to the original database instead of the master db
builder.InitialCatalog = originalCatalog;
DbConnection temp = SqlClientFactory.Instance.CreateConnection();
temp.ConnectionString = builder.ToString();
return temp;
}
}
Once I did that I coudl run this code in my Global.asax with no issues
Database.SetInitializer(new MigrateDatabaseToLatestVersion<ResidentPortalContext, Configuration>());
using (ResidentPortalUnitOfWork temp = new ResidentPortalUnitOfWork())
{
temp.Context.Database.Initialize(true);
}

Testing EF ConcurrencyCheck

I have a base object, that contains a Version property, marked as ConcurrencyCheck
public class EntityBase : IEntity, IConcurrencyEnabled
{
public int Id { get; set; }
[ConcurrencyCheck]
[Timestamp]
public byte[] Version { get; set; }
}
This works, however, I want to write a test to ensure it doesn't get broken. Unfortunately, I can't seem to figure out how to write a test that doesn't rely on the physical database!
And the relevant test code that works, but uses the database...
protected override void Arrange()
{
const string asUser = "ConcurrencyTest1"; // used to anchor and lookup this test record in the db
Context1 = new MyDbContext();
Context2 = new MyDbContext();
Repository1 = new Repository<FooBar>(Context1);
Repository2 = new Repository<FooBar>(Context2);
UnitOfWork1 = new UnitOfWork(Context1);
UnitOfWork2 = new UnitOfWork(Context2);
Sut = Repository1.Find(x => x.CreatedBy.Equals(asUser)).FirstOrDefault();
if (Sut == null)
{
Sut = new FooBar
{
Name = "Concurrency Test"
};
Repository1.Insert(Sut);
UnitOfWork1.SaveChanges(asUser);
}
ItemId = Sut.Id;
}
protected override void Act()
{
_action = () =>
{
var item1 = Repository1.FindById(ItemId);
var item2 = Repository2.FindById(ItemId);
item1.Name = string.Format("Changed # {0}", DateTime.Now);
UnitOfWork1.SaveChanges("test1");
item2.Name = string.Format("Conflicting Change # {0}", DateTime.Now);
UnitOfWork2.SaveChanges("test2"); //Should throw DbUpdateConcurrencyException
};
}
[TestMethod]
[ExpectedException(typeof(DbUpdateConcurrencyException))]
public void Assert()
{
_action();
}
How can I remove the DB requirement???
I would recommend extracting your MyDbContext into an interface IMyDbContext, and then creating a TestDbContext class that will also implement SaveChanges the way you have it up there, except with returning a random value (like 1) instead of actually saving to the database.
At that point then all you'd need to do is to test that, in fact, all of the entities got their version number upped.
Or you could also do the examples found here or here, as well.
EDIT: I actually just found a direct example with using TimeStamp for concurrency checks on this blog post.
It's my opinion that you should not try to mock this behaviour to enable "pure" unit testing. For two reasons:
it requires quite a lot of code that mocks database behaviour: materializing objects in a way that they have a version value, caching the original objects (to mock a store), modifying the version value when updating, comparing the version values with the original ones, throwing an exception when a version is different, and maybe more. All this code is potentially subject to bugs and, worse, may differ slightly from what happens in reality.
you'll get trapped in circular reasoning: you write code specifically for unit tests and then... you write unit tests to test this code. Green tests say everything is OK, but essential parts of application code are not covered.
This is only one of the many aspects of linq to entities that are hard (impossible) to mock. I am compiling a list of these differences here.

Entity Framework and Entity Tracker Problems

If I run the following code it throws the following error:
An entity object cannot be referenced by multiple instances of IEntityChangeTracker
public void Save(Category category)
{
using(var db = new NorthwindContext())
{
if(category.CategoryID == 0)
{
db.AddToCategorySet(category);
}
else
{
//category.RemoveTracker();
db.Attach(category);
}
db.SaveChanges();
}
}
The reason is of course that the category is sent from interface which we got from GetById method which already attached the EntityChangeTracker to the category object. I also tried to set the entity tracker to null but it did not update the category object.
protected void Btn_Update_Category_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
_categoryRepository = new CategoryRepository();
int categoryId = Int32.Parse(txtCategoryId.Text);
var category = _categoryRepository.GetById(categoryId);
category.CategoryName = txtUpdateCategoryName.Text;
_categoryRepository.Save(category);
}
I'm still learning Entity Framework myself, but maybe I can help a little. When working with the Entity Framework, you need to be aware of how you're handling different contexts. It looks like you're trying to localize your context as much as possible by saying:
public void Save(Category category)
{
using (var db = new NorthwindContext())
{
...
}
}
... within your data access method. Did you do the same thing in your GetById method? If so, did you remember to detach the object you got back so that it could be attached later in a different context?
public Category GetById(int categoryId)
{
using (var db = new NorthwindContext())
{
Category category = (from c in db.Category where Category.ID == categoryId select c).First();
db.Detach(category);
}
}
That way when you call Attach it isn't trying to step on an already-attached context. Does that help?
As you pointed out in your comment, this poses a problem when you're trying to modify an item and then tell your database layer to save it, because once an item is detached from its context, it no longer keeps track of the changes that were made to it. There are a few ways I can think of to get around this problem, none of them perfect.
If your architecture supports it, you could expand the scope of your context enough that your Save method could use the same context that your GetById method uses. This helps to avoid the whole attach/detach problem entirely, but it might push your data layer a little closer to your business logic than you would like.
You can load a new instance of the item out of the new context based on its ID, set all of its properties based on the category that is passed in, and then save it. This costs two database round-trips for what should really only need one, and it isn't very maintainable.
You can dig into the context itself to mark the Category's properties as changed.
For example:
public void Save(Category category)
{
using (var db = new NorthwindContext())
{
db.Attach(category);
var stateEntry = db.ObjectStateManager.GetObjectStateEntry(category);
foreach (var propertyName in stateEntry.CurrentValues.DataRecordInfo.FieldMetadata.Select(fm => fm.FieldType.Name)) {
stateEntry.SetModifiedProperty(propertyName);
}
db.SaveChanges();
}
}
This looks a little uglier, but should be more performant and maintainable overall. Plus, if you want, you could make it generic enough to throw into an extension method somewhere so you don't have to see or repeat the ugly code, but you still get the functionality out of it.