Since EF doesn't support unique key contraints, it seems that we need to catch exception during the Save method, and display error message to user.
The problems with this approach are:
how do we know which record threw an exception
how do we know what kind of problem threw an exception (ex I could have two unique constraints on same record, so I need to tell the user which one is broken)
DBMS is SqlServer 2008.
How to resolve these problems?
If you allow that a user can enter values that must be unique in the database you should validate this input before you save the changes:
if (context.Customers.Any(c => c.SomeUniqueProperty == userInput))
// return to user with a message to change the input value
else
context.SaveChanges();
This isn't only the case for values with unique constraints in the database but also for entering foreign key values that must refer to existing target records or primary key values if the primary key isn't autogenerated in the database. EF doesn't help you in the latter situation either because a context doesn't know the content of the whole database table but only about the entities that are currently attached to the context. It is true that EF will forbid to attach two objects with the same primary key but allows two objects with the same unique key constraint. But this doesn't guard you completely against primary key constraint violations when you save changes to the database.
In the unlikely case that between the Any check and SaveChanges another user has entered a record with the same value, I would consider the occuring exception as not possible to handle and just tell the user "An expected error occurred, please try again...". If the user tries again the Any check happens again and he will get the more useful message to change the input value from the code above.
The exception returned for such unique key constraint or primary key constraint violations is a general DbUpdateException and one of the inner exceptions will be a SqlException that contains as one of its properties a SQL Server error code. Any other details can be found only in the exception message "Violation of UNIQUE KEY constraint IX_SomeUniqueProperty_Index..." or similar. If you expect that the user can understand and react accordingly to this information you could display it. Otherwise you could log this message for an administrator or developer to check for possible bugs or other problems.
Related
I get the error "Cannot insert explicit value for identity column in table 'UserPermission' when IDENTITY_INSERT is set to OFF" trying to insert a record as follows:
dbContext.User.Add(someUser);
dbContext.SaveChanges();
That being said, the User file has the custom class UserPermission as one of its parameters, and someUser's UserPermission is not null and has a set ID parameter. Why does this happen and is it possible to avoid getting this error without having to explicitly add a UserPermissionID foreign key parameter in my User model and setting the UserPermission parameter to null?
Thanks in advance.
This issue typically happens when deserializing entities that have related entities in the object graph then attempting to add them. UserPermission is likely an existing record that in the DB is set up with an identity PK, but EF doesn't appear to recognize that in the entity definition. (I.e. set to DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity). If it had been you would most likely be seeing a different problem where a completely new duplicate UserPermission was being created.
If someUser, and it's associated someUser.UserPermission are deserialized entities then you need to do a bit of work to ensure EF is aware that UserPermission is an existing row:
void AddUser(User someUser)
{
var existingPermission = _context.UserPermissions.Local
.SingleOrDefault(x => x.UserPermissionId == someUser.UserPermission.UserPermissionId);
if (existingPermission != null)
someUser.UserPermission = existingPermission;
else
_context.Attach(someUser.UserPermission);
_context.Users.Add(someUser);
_context.SaveChanges();
}
In a nutshell, when working with detached entities that a DbContext may not be tracking, we need to check the Local state for any existing tracked instance for that ID. If we find one, we substitute the detached reference for the tracked one. If we don't find one, we attach the detached one before Adding our user.
This still isn't entirely safe because it assumes that the referenced UserPermission will exist in the database. If for any reason a non-existent UserPermission is sent in (row deleted, or fake data) you will get an exception on Save.
Passing detached entity references around can seem like a simple option at first, but you need to do this for every reference within a detached entity. If you simply call Attach without first checking, it will likely work until you come across a scenario where at runtime it doesn't work because the context happens to already be tracking an instance.
I have table A and B
A like : id
name
bid
B like : id
type
in table A has a data record reference with B1,now I want update A reference with B2.
in my unitofwork if I set AutoDetectChangesEnabled = true it's work ok, but I set AutoDetectChangesEnabled = false reason is I want to up speed throw the exception like this:
The changes to the database were committed successfully, but an error occurred while updating the object context. The ObjectContext might be in an inconsistent state. Inner exception message: A referential integrity constraint violation occurred: The property value(s) of 'GoodsKind.goods_kind_id' on one end of a relationship do not match the property value(s) of 'EnrolmentType.goods_kind' on the other end."
how cand i do?
I just had this error as well. The problem for me was that I have a complex type. When I changed the master record (let's say Person) I also wanted to change the complex type List with his contact information(s). So when I tried to save them both in one screen I got this error. Check if you fill all the ids on your screen for the master record and the complex type records. Check if they are posted to the server (if you use in example MVC). You can do this by checking the Bind statement by your MVC action.
The error says that the ID and the object specified doesn't match. This means that you are saying that A has a B with ID=2 but at the same time you have A with an object of type B with ID=5. Because you are working in a disconnected environment, EF doesn't know which one is the correct. To solve this issue you can do one of the following things:
-Get the object from EF, modify it and then save (connected environment).
OR
-Update the IDs manually (update A setting ID=5 because the object B has ID=5).
Always remember that EF tracks changes if it is in a connected environment and the tracking is enabled. If not, it has no clue of the changes you made until it tries to save it in the DB (where the object is compared with the values in the DB). One thing that you can do to manually tell EF that the entity has been modified in a disconnected environment is:
dbContext.Entry(objectA).State = EntityState.Modified;
Working in a team environment, someone just created some tables I needed to add (EF Database First design).
I chose to "Update model from database...", selected the new tables, and got an obscure error message:
Unable to generate the model because of the following exception: 'The value for column 'DataType' in table 'TableDetails' is DBNull.
Unable to cast object of type 'System.DBNull' to type 'System.String'.
'.
This is actually caused by trying to add a table with no primary key. Just update the tables to have a primary key and you shouldn't get this error anymore.
It would be nice if the error made this clear. It would also be nice if everyone remembered to set primary keys on tables when they created them.
Hopefully this will save others the fruitless efforts I had of searching for an answer.
I have removed the PrimaryKey from my table, refreshed the EDMX, and now I am getting this error message when doing db.SaveChanges():
Unable to update the EntitySet 'Results' because it has a DefiningQuery and no element exists in the element to support the current operation.
Now...
1 - I dont want PrimaryKey in my table. The table is just a bag of values, no PK is required.
2 - I read another post where someone suggested to remove DefiningQuery element from EF generated EDMX. It is not working, and I avoid manual changes to automatically generated EDMX.
Any idea how I can avoid this error, and not define PK in my table?
Thanks.
In Entity Framework everything must have a key, at least in the model. You can remove it from the database but still you'll have to define a key in the model, which may be a composite key to ensure it is unique. Otherwise EF won't be able to materialize or save objects correctly.
However, I would use a primary key in the table anyway. It is no trouble at all to have an identity field in it and you don't have to worry about finding a unique combination of fields yourself. I can't imagine that the table does not need some notion of identity, or can it really have two exactly identical rows?
I've made a guestbook application using Google App Engine(GAE):python and the client is running on iPhone.
It has ability to write messages on the board with nickname.
The entity has 3 fileds:
nickname
date
message
And I'm about to make another feature that user can post reply(or comment) on a message.
But to do this, I think there should a 'primary key' to the guestbook entity, so I can put some information about the reply on a message.
With that three fields, I can't get just one message out of database.
I'm a newbie to database. Does database save some kind of index automatically? or is it has to be done by user?
And if it's done automatically by database itself(or not), how can I get just one entity with the key??
And I want to get some advise about how to make reply feature generally also. Thanks to read.
Every entity has a key. If you don't assign a key_name when you create the entity, part of the key is an automatically-assigned numeric ID. Properties other than long text fields are automatically indexed unless you specify otherwise.
To get an entity if you know the key, you simply do db.get(key). For the replies, you probably want to use a db.ReferenceProperty in the reply entity to point to the parent message; this will automatically create a backreference query in the message to get replies.
Each entity has a key, it contains information such as the kind of entity it is, it's namespace, parent entities, and the most importantly a unique identifier (optionally user specifiable).
You can get the key of an entity using the key method that all entities have.
message.key()
A key can be converted to and from a URL-safe string.
message_key = str(message.key())
message = Message.get(message_key)
If the key has a user-specified unique identifier (key name), you can access it like this
message.key().name()
Alternatively, if a key name was not specified, an id will be automatically assigned.
message.key().id()
To assign a key name to an entity, you must specify it when creating the entity, you are not able to add/remove or change the key name afterwards.
message = Message(key_name='someusefulstring', content='etc')
message.put()
You will then be able to fetch the message from the datastore using the key name
message = Message.get_by_key_name('someusefulstring')
Use the db.ReferenceProperty to store a reference to another entity (can be of any kind)
It's a good idea to use key name whenever possible, as fetching from the datastore is much faster using them, as it doesn't involve querying.