Multiple DbContext classes use the same connection string? - entity-framework

For example, I have following DbContext classes.
public class AppDbContext : DbContext {
...
}
public class LogDbContext : DbContext {
...
}
public class FooDbContext : DbContext {
...
}
If a connection string named AppDbContext is on the App.Config and I want other DbContext classes to share the same connection string as AppDbContext, could I just pass the string "AppDbContext" as the parameter for the ctor of LogDbContext and FooDbContext. For example,
public class FooDbContext : DbContext {
public FooDbContext : base("AppDbContext") { }
}
Does it have any side effects ?
Update 2013/1/9
After trying #ShinH2S's suggestion and somethings, I give up this way, and decide give different Dbcontext derived classes with different connectionStrings and database. I have try a test project and put it on GitHub. It will throw a runtime exception when the entityframework detects the database scheme is changed because the AppDbContext and FooDbContext have different schemas. If I assign a DropCreateDatabaseIfModelChanges strategy to both DbContext derived classes, one of them will be dropped because the models is different to another.
Update 2017/10
This is an old problem. In my memory, EF6 and above versions can have different migration history for multiple context in the same migration table.
I prefer this answer at SO. I had not been coding with C# about 2 years.

IMHO, there is no side effects. But if it was me I will just create a base class that inherits from DbContext class BaseDbContextthen all the contexts (AppDbContext, LogDbContext and FooDbContext ) will derive from BaseDbContext.

Related

Simultaneous data operation in SQLite and SQL Server databases using Entity Framework and Repository Pattern

I am working on a .net core project where the requirement is to maintain an SQLite DB and an SQL Server DB simultaneously. I created two DbContext files SqlServerContext and SqliteContext and separate migration folders for them. These files are derived from a WorkerContext file that's derived from DbContext. The migration is working properly, as tables are created in both databases. But I could not make simultaneous data operation work.
This is the IKeyboardMouseActivityRepository. There are separate parts for using SqliteContext and SqlServerContext. I have to comment out one part when using the other. So I can do data entry in one DB at a time now.
public interface IKeyboardMouseActivityRepository :
IRepository<KeyboardMouseActivity, Guid, SqlServerContext>
// IRepository<KeyboardMouseActivity, Guid, SqliteContext>
{
}
public class KeyboardMouseActivityRepository :
IKeyboardMouseActivityRepository,
Repository<KeyboardMouseActivity, Guid, SqlServerContext>
// Repository<KeyboardMouseActivity, Guid, SqliteContext>
{
public KeyboardMouseActivityRepository(SqlServerContext dbContext)
: base(dbContext)
{
}
// public KeyboardMouseActivityRepository(SqliteContext dbContext)
// : base(dbContext)
// {
// }
}
This is the main Repository class.
public abstract class Repository<TEntity, TKey, TContext>
: IRepository<TEntity, TKey, TContext>
where TEntity : class, IEntity<TKey>
where TContext : DbContext
{
protected TContext _dbContext;
protected DbSet<TEntity> _dbSet;
public Repository(TContext context)
{
_dbContext = context;
_dbSet = _dbContext.Set<TEntity>();
}
// other methods such as Add, Remove etc.
}
My understanding is that since the context parameter is specified in KeyboardMouseActivityRepository, it only works for that specified context. How can I modify it so it works for both DbContext files and I can do data operation in both DB at the same time?
The repository you have defined is typed per-DbContext. If you want to have a repository that can update two known DbContext implementations then you can back off the Generic approach for the DbContexts and implement the repository to accept one of each in the constructor:
public abstract class Repository<TEntity, TKey>
: IRepository<TEntity, TKey>
where TEntity : class, IEntity<TKey>
{
protected SqlAppDbContext _sqlContext;
protected SqlLiteAppDbContext _sqlLiteContext;
protected DbSet<TEntity> _sqlDbSet;
protected DbSet<TEntity> _sqlLiteDbSet;
public Repository(SqlAppDbContext sqlContext, SqlLiteAppDbContext sqlLiteContext)
{
_sqlContext = sqlContext ?? throw new ArgumentNullException("sqlContext");
_sqlLiteContext = sqlLiteContext ?? throw new ArgumentNullException("sqlLiteContext");
_sqlDbSet = _sqlContext.Set<TEntity>();
_sqlLiteDbSet = _sqlLiteContext.Set<TEntity>();
}
// other methods such as Add, Remove etc.
}
Note that you will want to investigate and implement something like TransactionScope to help ensure that operations done via the repository are mutually committed or rolled back. For instance if you have code that attempts to update data in both DbSets and SaveChanges, if one succeeds and the other fails for any reason, usually the expectation would be they both roll back. Reads I expect would prioritize one DbSet over the other, but expect if you were to want to support something like a fail-over or situational load from one server or the other you will run into issues if it is at all possible that entities fetched from one DbContext are ever married up with entities fetched from the other. (entities loaded by _sqlContext cannot be associated with entities loaded by _sqlLiteContext) When updating entities and associating them via navigation properties you will be loading everything twice or playing a very dangerously error prone game of detaching and reattaching entities betewen DbContexts.
I would advise against using a Generic Repository pattern /w EF. This will paint you into various corners that will limit many of the capabilities that EF can provide for optimizing queries, working with projections, and performing operations like pagination, filtering, sorting, etc. efficiently without a lot of extra code or introducing pretty complex code into the repository.
Overall I wish you luck with the project, however a requirement and design like this will be a nest of hungry dragons for your time and sanity. :)

How do I implement DbContext inheritance for multiple databases in EF7 / .NET Core

I am building web APIs in ASP.NET Core 1.1.
I have a number different databases (for different systems) which have common base schemas for configuration items such as Configuration, Users and groups (about 25 tables in all). I am trying to avoid duplicating the quite extensive EF configuration for the shared part of the model by inheriting from a base class as shown in the diagram.
However, this does not work because of the Entity Framework (EF) requirement to pass DbContextOptions<DerivedRepository> as a parameter to the constructor, where DerivedRepository must match the type of the repository the constructor is called on. The parameter must then be passed down to the base DbContext by calling :base(param).
So when (for example) InvestContext is initialised with DbContextOptions<InvestContext>, it calls base(DbContextOptions<InvestContext>) and EF throws an error because the call to the ConfigurationContext constructor is receiving a parameter of type DbContextOptions<InvestContext> instead of the required type DbContextOptions<ConfigurationContext>. Since the options field on DbContext is defined as
private readonly DbContextOptions _options;
I can't see a way around this.
What is the best way to define the shared model once and use it multiple times? I guess I could create a helper function and call it from every derived context, but it's not nearly as clean or transparent as inheritance.
I would like to bring this post from the OP's GitHub issue to everyone's attention:
I was able to resolve this without a hack by providing a protected constructor that uses DbContextOptions without any type. Making the second constructor protected ensures that it will not get used by DI.
public class MainDbContext : DbContext {
public MainDbContext(DbContextOptions<MainDbContext> options)
: base(options) {
}
protected MainDbContext(DbContextOptions options)
: base(options) {
}
}
public class SubDbContext : MainDbContext {
public SubDbContext (DbContextOptions<SubDbContext> options)
: base(options) {
}
}
OK, I have got this working in a way which still uses the inheritance hierarchy, like this (using InvestContext from above as the example):
As stated, the InvestContext class receives a constructor parameter of type DbContextOptions<InvestContext>, but must pass DbContextOptions<ConfigurationContext> to it's base.
I have written a method which digs the connectionstring out of a DbContextOptions variable, and builds a DbContextOptions instance of the required type. InvestContext uses this method to convert its options parameter to the right type before calling base().
The conversion method looks like this:
protected static DbContextOptions<T> ChangeOptionsType<T>(DbContextOptions options) where T:DbContext
{
var sqlExt = options.Extensions.FirstOrDefault(e => e is SqlServerOptionsExtension);
if (sqlExt == null)
throw (new Exception("Failed to retrieve SQL connection string for base Context"));
return new DbContextOptionsBuilder<T>()
.UseSqlServer(((SqlServerOptionsExtension)sqlExt).ConnectionString)
.Options;
}
and the InvestContext constructor call changes from this:
public InvestContext(DbContextOptions<InvestContext> options):base(options)
to this:
public InvestContext(DbContextOptions<InvestContext> options):base(ChangeOptionsType<ConfigurationContext>(options))
So far both InvestContext and ConfigurationContext work for simple queries, but it seems like a bit of a hack and possibly not something the designers of EF7 had in mind.
I am still concerned that EF is going to get itself in a knot when I try complex queries, updates etc. It appears that this is not a problem, see below)
Edit: I've logged this problem as an issue with the EF7 team here, and a team member has suggested a change to the EF Core core as follows:
"We should update the check to allow TContext to be a type that is derived from the current context type"
This would solve the problem.
After further interaction with that team member (which you can see on the issue) and some digging through the EF Core code, the approach I've outlined above looks safe and the best approach until the suggested change is implemented.
Depending on your requirements you can simply use the non type specific version of DbContextOptions.
Change these:
public ConfigurationContext(DbContextOptions<ConfigurationContext> options):base(options)
public InvestContext(DbContextOptions<InvestContext> options):base(options)
to this:
public ConfigurationContext(DbContextOptions options):base(options)
public InvestContext(DbContextOptions options):base(options)
Then if you create your ConfigurationContext first, the classes that inherit it seem to get the same configuration. It may also depend on the order in which you initialize the different contexts.
Edit:
My working example:
public class QueryContext : DbContext
{
public QueryContext(DbContextOptions options): base(options)
{
}
}
public class CommandContext : QueryContext
{
public CommandContext(DbContextOptions options): base(options)
{
}
}
And in Startup.cs
services.AddDbContext<CommandContext>(options =>
options.UseSqlServer(Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection")));
services.AddDbContext<QueryContext>(options =>
options.UseSqlServer(Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection")));
alternatively, in a test class:
var connectionString = "Data Source=MyDatabase;Initial Catalog=MyData;Integrated Security=SSPI;";
var serviceProvider = new ServiceCollection()
.AddDbContext<QueryContext>(options => options.UseSqlServer(connectionString))
.BuildServiceProvider();
_db = serviceProvider.GetService<QueryContext>();

Code First Migrations with two DataContext

In my app i have two DataContexts, ApplicationDbContext created by default ,which inherits from IdentityDbContext and DomainContext for my model. Now i am getting some issues when updating the database using Migrations, when i execute
Add-Migration to DomainContext in the migration file created is included the code to Drop all the tables related to ApplicationDbContext. I have googled and i have not found any satisfactory answer yet, the only rasonable solution suggest to mingle both DBContexts but that sound weird to me because ApplicationDbContext inherit from IdentityDbContext.
public class ApplicationDbContext : IdentityDbContext<ApplicationUser>
{
public ApplicationDbContext()
: base( "DBContextConnString" )
{
}
}
public class DomainContext:DbContext {
public DomainContext() : base( "DBContextConnString" ) { }
public DbSet<State> States { get; set; }
protected override void OnModelCreating( DbModelBuilder modelBuilder ) {
modelBuilder.HasDefaultSchema( "Workflow" );
base.OnModelCreating( modelBuilder );
}
}
One of the The new fetures exposed by EF6 state "Multiple Contexts per Database removes the previous limitation of one Code First model per database when using Migrations or when Code First automatically created the database for you." (Read it here). But in practice is a pain to implement this or maybe i am missing something very very obvious.
My question in short, what is the way to go to keep this two different DBContexts living in armony?
After some experimentation i conclude that the more pragmatic way is to mingle both DbContext into one, so i decide to move my domain entities to IdentityDbContext.

Entity Framework 5.0 Repository with dynamic DbContext

As it says on the tin, is it possible to create an instance of a DbContext suitable for use as an Entity Framework 5.0 POCO context where the properies that are normally declared as
public DbSet<T> Entities { get; set; }
aren't set/known until runtime?
I'd like to make a repository that has methods like
public TEntity Find<TEntity>(object key) where TEntity : class
{
return _context.Set<TEntity>().Find(key);
}
public void Update<TEntity>(TEntity entity) where TEntity : class
{
if (_context.Entry(entity).State == EntityState.Detached) //entity is detached
_context.Set<TEntity>().Attach(entity);
_context.Entry(entity).State = EntityState.Modified;
}
.... etc
And then use them like:
Widget w = repository.Find<Widget>(123);
repository.SaveChanges();
This is trivial if the repository's context is set to a class that contains a DbSet<Widget> Widgets, but can it be done such that the entity types that I plan to use won't be know until runtime OR possibly not until I actually USE them? So that if I have a new class Foo, I can immediately query my repository to .Find<Foo>(123) without having to first add a DbSet<Foo> Foos to my DbContext class?
I think this should be possible because there's nothing special about the poco classes or the DbContext instance which holds references to them.
You don't need DbSet<Foo> Foos property in your context. That is just one way to tell context about existence of the Foo entity. There are multiple ways how context discovers mapped entities:
By explicit DbSet<T> properties
By navigation properties in already discovered entities
By specifying mapping in DbModelBuilder
Overriding OnModelCreated in your context type
Creating DbModelBuilder manually, building it and compiling it into DbCompiledModel which can be passed to DbContext constructor
By declaring EntityTypeConfiguration<T> for each entity and adding it to DbModelBuilder (either in OnModelCreated or in manually created DbModelBuilder).
The last option can be used to discover all required entities at application startup (for example by searching assemblies for all entity configuration classes and registering them to model builder) but it is still not fully dynamic solution. Compiled model is normally constructed only once per application run when the context is used for the first time. Without replacing the compiled model you cannot add or remove mapped entity types to the context.

EntityDataSource with Code-First Entity Framework 4.1

I am just starting out on Entity Framework 4.1 Code-First. I have created my classes and DbContext, and they work perfectly fine. Right now I want to bind my ListView to my Entities, with the help of an EntityDataSource, but unfortunately it does not recognise any available connection strings! I think the providerName must be System.Data.EntityClient for it to work, but I have no concrete entity model to reference to...
I have read that an ObjectContext can be "adapted" from the DbContext, which in turn can be used to create an ObjectDataSource. I want to use my DbContext to bind to my ListView, however. Is there any way I can do this?
I have a hard time understanding your question... You want to specify the connection string when you instanciate your Context class, is that it?
You can create an overload of your constructor of your DbContext class, like
public MyContext(string connString) : base (connString)
{
Database.SetInitializer(...
...
}
Then, in a Code-First approach, you don't really need the ObjectContext except for super-advanced scenarios, and databinding isn't one of them I guess. To get to bind to a collection in your Context class, just put a property for it in a ViewModel class designed for your screen, like
public class MyViewModel
{
private MyContext _context;
public ObservableCollection<MyObject> MyObjects { get; set; }
public MyViewModel()
{
_context = new MyContext();
MyObjects = new ObservableCollection<MyObject>(_context.MyObjects.ToList());
}
}
Then you can bind your ListView against that property, given that it's referenced.
Hope it helps, otherwise please give more details.