No need to dispose DataContext/ObjectContext in EF? - entity-framework

Albahari writes in "c# 4.0 in a nutshell":
>
Although DataContext/ObjectContext implement IDisposable, you can (in general)
get away without disposing instances. Disposing forces the context’s connection
to dispose—but this is usually unnecessary because L2S and EF close connections
automatically whenever you finish retrieving results from a query
<<
This feels wrong and FxCop also complains if you are not diposing something that is IDisposable.
I have the following repository code:
public abstract class Repository<TEntity> : IRepository<TEntity> where TEntity : class
{ ...
public void Add(TEntity entity)
{
using (var dbContext = this.UnityContainer.Resolve<DbContext>())
{
dbContext.Set<TEntity>().Add(entity);
dbContext.SaveChanges();
}
}
...
public virtual IEnumerable<TEntity> Find(Expression<Func<TEntity, bool>> expression)
{
using (var dbContext = this.UnityContainer.Resolve<DbContext>())
{
return dbContext.Set<TEntity>().Where(expression).ToList().AsEnumerable();
}
}
...
Note: I do not return IQueryable - lazy loading should not play a role.
Resolve DbContext is configured as PerResolveLifetimeManager.
Is this approach OK or do I need to reconsider this based on Albaharis description?

You should always call dispose if class exposes it. The statement claims that EF and L2S close connection whenever they finish operation - as I know the statement is correct but in the same time ADO.NET team also closes connection in Dispose method so perhaps there are situations when connection is not closed.

I'm working on EF 4.0 ObjectContext (yeah, I know...). I ended up looking at the code in DotPeek, and the dispose just nulls the reference to the connection and a few other things in the ObjectContext class.
When a connection is created (also found through DotPeek) it returns the existing instance. If the connection string is changed, it'll update the connection string for all instances.
That was my take on it at least. Need to look deeper but at first glance, it seems that you can get away with it.

Related

Blazor Server App and IDbContextFactory not disposing

I have a blazor server application that needs to indirectly connect to a EF core DB context.
None of the blazor components will directly inject an instance of the dbcontext. I am using mediator which will handle all business operations.
The documentation that I have seen so far recommends using IDbContextFactory. I gave it a try but I am not seeing the DbContext created by the factory being disposed. The services that inject IDbContext are not disposed on page changes nor at any other time.
public class QueryHandler : IQueryHandler<Query, Entity>, IDisposable
{
private readonly DbContext dbContext;
public QueryHandler(IDbContextFactory factory)
{
dbContext = factory.CreateDbContext();
}
public Task Handle(Query query)
{
/// do whatever needs to be done.
}
public void Dispose()
{
dbContext.Dispose(); // <-- Dispose never gets called.
}
}
Am I missing something?
The purpose of using a DbContextFactory is to have a DbContext per method.
Exactly because Blazor doesn't offer useful Scopes to handle this.
public class QueryHandler : IQueryHandler<Query, Entity> //, IDisposable
{
...
public QueryHandler(IDbContextFactory factory)
{
_factory = factory;
}
public Task Handle(Query query)
{
using var dbContext = _factory.CreateDbContext();
/// do whatever needs to be done.
}
//public void Dispose() { }
}
This way the DI container and Factory only manage the configuration of the DbContext. Lifecycle management of the DbContext is manual. The Factory is a simple Transient object, is owns no resources.
Manual management usually is with a using statement or using declaration but Blazor also offers an OwningComponentBase. I don't see it being used much.
In Server the DI container exists for the lifetime of the Hub Session and in WASM the lifetime of the Application. Any service objects created within the container, whether Scoped or Transient, implementing IDisposable, are not Disposed until the DI container itself is destroyed. You don't make clear the scope of QueryHandler, but if it's transient that's bad news. You will keep creating new DBContexts without the old ones being disposed.
The purpose of the DbContextFactory is to create unit of work DbContext instances that are used and then quickly disposed correctly. You need to take this approach because DB access will almost certainly be asynchronous. Use a single context and you will quickly hit the situation where you are awaiting one query to complete while trying to use the same context in another operation.
Henk's answer shows you how to use and consume factory created contexts.

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. :)

Is there a way to get LinqPad to work with an EF Core context?

I am trying to figure out if there is something I am missing or some way to hack around the lack of support (yet) for Entity Framework Core DbContexts in LinqPad. I've compiled my code targeting 4.6.1 (as suggested on the LinqPad forum) and tried the "Entity Framework V7" driver, but as its name suggests, I don't believe it's up-to-date. It still asks for an app.config file or a connection string for the constructor.
Since EF Core contexts use DbContextOptions for construction rather than connection strings, I was thinking I could possibly create a constructor overload that takes a connection string, but that doesn't handle the underlying database driver. Is there a way to specify a factory for constructing the context? Any other possibilities? I'm feeling lost without LinqPad.
Latest EFCore 1.1 LINQPad driver (v1.1.1.1) can correctly use constructor that accepts string (when this option is selected in LINQPad).
So it's possible to add the following constructor:
public ApplicationDbContext(string connectionString)
: this(new DbContextOptionsBuilder<ApplicationDbContext>()
.UseSqlServer(connectionString).Options)
{ }
This will hard link this context instance to sql server provider, but at least not to connection string. And in addition your app not likely will ever try to use this constructor, EF Core never expects/promotes a ctor. that accepts string.
For additional safety you could wrap this constructor in #if DEBUG ... #endif so that it never gets to production.
The driver seems to be buggy / not updates at all. I found a way to bypass it by modifying the DbContext.
In theory, this should have worked, but it does not:
private string _connectionString;
public ApplicationDbContext(string connectionString) : base()
{
_connectionString = connectionString;
}
protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder optionsBuilder)
{
if (_connectionString == null)
base.OnConfiguring(optionsBuilder); // Normal operation
// We have a connection string
var dbContextOptionsBuilder = new DbContextOptionsBuilder();
optionsBuilder.UseSqlServer(_connectionString);
base.OnConfiguring(dbContextOptionsBuilder);
}
LinqPad EF Core driver keeps looking for the parameterless constructor even if you specify "Via a constructor that accepts a string". That seems like a bug in the driver.
So then I gave it what it wanted, a parameterless contructor. I had to hardcode the connection string since IoC/appsettings.json config reader is not loaded and I don't feel like loading that separately in the DbContext. But it works and lets me test EF Core queries in LinqPad off my model.
This works fine for me:
private bool _isDebug = false;
public ApplicationDbContext() : base()
{
_isDebug = true;
}
protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder optionsBuilder)
{
if (!_isDebug)
base.OnConfiguring(optionsBuilder); // Normal operation
// We are in debug mode
var dbContextOptionsBuilder = new DbContextOptionsBuilder();
// Hardcoded connection string
optionsBuilder.UseSqlServer("data source=XXXX;initial catalog=XXXX;persist security info=True;user id=XXXX;password=XXXX;MultipleActiveResultSets=True;App=EntityFramework");
base.OnConfiguring(dbContextOptionsBuilder);
}
This is in addition to the existing public ApplicationDbContext(DbContextOptions<ApplicationDbContext> options) : base(options) { } of course.
Edit: Be careful, it looks like this overrides default behavior, which may not be visible until you deploy to the server.

Making sure JPA commits my transaction before another service accesses the data

It feels so simple:
I have a ViewScoped bean (JPA2 + EE6 + Seam3, if that matters) where the user of the web application can invoke a method like this:
public void save() {
doEntityManagerStuff(); // manipulates data in the database
callRemoteWebservice(); // which is to read said data and propagate it to other systems
}
Unfortunately, save() starts a transaction at the opening curly bracket and doesn't commit it before the closing bracket, meaning that the new data is not available to the remote web service to read.
I have tried to explicitly extract and annotate the database work:
#TransactionAttribute(REQUIRES_NEW)
private void doEntityManagerStuff() {
blabla(); // database stuff
}
But that didn't have any impact at all. (Maybe because that's EJB stuff and I'm running on seam...?)
The only thing that worked for me so far was to inject #UserTransaction and force commit the transaction at the end of either save() or doEntityManagerStuff() but that felt incredibly dirty and dangerous.
The other alternative would be to turn off container-managed transactions for the entire project, but that means I'd have to make all my beans manage their transactions manually, just so I can make this one case work.
Is there a better way?
To answer my own question:
I only went half-way, and that's why it didn't work. I didn't know enough about EJBs and their boudaries, and naively though just annotating the doEntityManagerStuff(...) method with a transaction attribute in my view-scoped CDI/Seam bean would be enough.
It isn't.
When I moved said method into a separate, stateless EJB, injected that into my CDI/Seam bean and called it from there, everything worked as expected.
#Stateless
#TransactionAttribute(TransactionAttributeType.REQUIRES_NEW)
public class MyPersister {
...
public void doEntityManagerStuff() {
blabla(); // database stuff
}
...
}
and
#ViewScoped
public class MyWebsiteBean {
...
#Inject MyPersister persister;
...
public void save() {
persister.doEntityManagerStuff(); //uses its own transaction
callRemoteWebService();
}
...
}

Entity Framework + Autofac - Random errors on save

Using autofac as my IoC framework.
I'd like to be able to set up my DbContext instance in my application's startup.
In my ASP.NET MVC 3 project, I register DbContext instance in Global.asax (PerLifetimeScope). But when I fire up my site on multiple browsers (or multiple tabs) at once, sometimes I get Object reference not set to an instance of an object. or New transaction is not allowed because there are other threads running in the session when I try to save changes back to database. Also I get
ExecuteReader requires an open and available Connection. The connection's current state: Broken. sometimes when I want to read data from database.
the errors seem to pop up randomly and I suspect it has something to do with my context's lifetime scope. here's my DbContext's overriden SaveChange method.
public class MyContext : DbContext
{
public override int SaveChanges()
{
var result = base.SaveChanges(); // Exception here
}
}
Here's how I register my context:
builder.Register(c => new MyContext("SomeConnectionString"))
.InstancePerLifetimeScope();
If I just have one open tab of my site in the browser everything works ok.
Also, It's worth mentioning I have CRUD operations with db every 5-10 seconds in my website by calling a controller method using Ajax.
StackTrace for New transaction is not allowed because there are other threads running in the session:
at System.Data.EntityClient.EntityConnection.BeginDbTransaction(IsolationLevel isolationLevel)
at System.Data.EntityClient.EntityConnection.BeginTransaction()
at System.Data.Objects.ObjectContext.SaveChanges(SaveOptions options)
at System.Data.Entity.Internal.InternalContext.SaveChanges()
at System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalContext.SaveChanges()
at System.Data.Entity.DbContext.SaveChanges()
at MyProject.Data.MyContext.SaveChanges() in D:\Test.cs
StackTrace for Object reference not set to an instance of an object.:
at System.Data.Objects.ObjectStateManager.DetectConflicts(IList`1 entries)
at System.Data.Objects.ObjectStateManager.DetectChanges()
at System.Data.Entity.Internal.InternalContext.DetectChanges(Boolean force)
at System.Data.Entity.Internal.InternalContext.GetStateEntries(Func`2 predicate)
at System.Data.Entity.Internal.InternalContext.GetStateEntries()
at System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.DbChangeTracker.Entries()
at System.Data.Entity.DbContext.GetValidationErrors()
at System.Data.Entity.Internal.InternalContext.SaveChanges()
at System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalContext.SaveChanges()
at System.Data.Entity.DbContext.SaveChanges()
at MyProject.Data.MyContext.SaveChanges() in D:\Test.cs at
Registration of MyContext looks ok. Is it possible that some other service that takes a MyContext is registered as a singleton and being shared across threads?
I had the same issue, sporadic errors related to the DbContext while using Autofac to resolve the DbContext.
{System.Data.EntityCommandExecutionException: An error occurred while executing the command definition. See the inner exception for details.
etc.
{System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at System.Data.Objects.ObjectStateManager.DetectConflicts(IList`1 entries)
etc.
I found a class resembling the following in my code. The dependency resolution was occurring within a static method inside of the singleton. The object being resolved had a dependency on the DbContext. I haven't had any additional issues after I found a way to restructure this class so that it was no longer a singleton.
Perhaps you have a similar situation? Another thing to try might be to make your DbContext InstancePerHttpRequest. That could help identify whether this is the issue.
public class Singleton
{
private static Singleton _instance = new Singleton();
private Singleton()
{
}
public static void DoSomething<TSource>(TSource source) where TSource : ISource
{
var items = DependencyResolver.Current.Resolve<IEnumerable<IDbContextConsumer<TSource>>>();
foreach (var item in items)
{
item.Execute(source);
}
}
}