Using EF 4.1 how could I add a default value to the underlying table? In this particular case how could I set a datetime column to the equivalent of getdate every time I insert a new record to the database, without having to set it in code.
Thanks in advance
The solution proposed by #elkdanger is way to go but just if you use code-first approach you don't have to create partial class - you can place initialization directly to your entity.
Don't use database approach! It will not work because it would demand marking property as database generated (to be correctly repopulated after insert). Once you mark property database generated you can never change its value in the application.
The last option is overriding SaveChanges in your derived DbContext and setting the property manually. Something like:
public override int SaveChanges()
{
var entities = ChangeTracker.Entries<YourEntityType>()
.Where(e => e.State == EntityState.Added)
.Select(e => e.Entity);
var currentDate = DateTime.Now;
foreach(var entity in entities)
{
entity.Date = currentDate;
}
return base.SaveChanges();
}
This approach can be better if there can be significant difference between creating an instance of the entity and saving the instanance.
You could create a partial class for your entity, and inside the constructor set the date column to DateTime.Now. This way, every time you create an instance of your class, that field will be set to the current date "automatically".
You could (and perhaps should) do it in the table itself using a trigger or a default value.
Entity Framework itself has not a mechanism for it. You have to do it manually in the db or the code.
You can also modify your T4 template (.tt file) to add a partial method that you call from within the generated constructor. Then, you can create your own partial class and implement the partial method and set your default value.
A snippet from the T4 template where the constructor is created, followed by the partial method. Note the last three lines:
public <#=code.Escape(entity)#>()
{
<#
foreach (var edmProperty in propertiesWithDefaultValues)
{
#>
this.<#=code.Escape(edmProperty)#> = =code.CreateLiteral(edmProperty.DefaultValue)#>;
<#
}
foreach (var navigationProperty in collectionNavigationProperties)
{
#>
this.<#=code.Escape(navigationProperty)#> = new HashSet<<#=code.Escape(navigationProperty.ToEndMember.GetEntityType())#>>();
<#
}
foreach (var complexProperty in complexProperties)
{
#>
this.<#=code.Escape(complexProperty)#> = new <#=code.Escape(complexProperty.TypeUsage)#>();
<#
}
#>
SetDefaultValues();
}
partial void SetDefaultValues();
That will result in a generated entity having something like:
public Foo()
{
// Properties set based on defaults in edmx
SetDefaultValues();
}
partial void SetDefaultValues();
Then, in your partial class, you can simply add something like:
partial void SetDefaultValues()
{
this.SomeDate = DateTime.Today;
}
Use [DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Computed)]
from System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.Schema;
if you have the default values configured on the database.
Related
I want to have basically on most of my tables a "Last Updated" column so that I can quickly check when it was last updated.
Right now I been just putting a datetime and every time I do an action in my C# code I will save the new DateTime to update that field. Of course this can lead to me forgetting to do this.
I want something more automatic. I don't need this really for auditing purposes so it does not need to be too advanced.
I tried
builder.Property(x => x.RowVersion).IsRowVersion();
what should make a timestamp but when I look at in the database I see 0x00000000000007D1 when I thought it would look more like a datetime.
edit
public class CompanyConfig : IEntityTypeConfiguration<Company>
{
public void Configure(EntityTypeBuilder<Company> builder)
{
builder.HasKey(x => x.Id);
builder.Property(x => x.Id).ValueGeneratedOnAdd();
builder.Property<DateTime>("LastUpdated");
}
}
Assuming you have defined a shadow property LastModified for each entity you want that functionality as in your example
builder.Property<DateTime>("LastUpdated");
and the question is how to update it automatically.
The technique described in the David's answer is outdated. It's still possible to override SaveChanges (and SaveChangesAsync), but there is IMHO a better approach, shown in Populate Created and LastModified automagically in EF Core. It's interface based approach, but can easily be adjusted for shadow property (or any property - the methods used work for both shadow and explicit properties).
Quick recap: Starting with v2.1, EF Core provides State change events:
New Tracked And StateChanged events on ChangeTracker can be used to write logic that reacts to entities entering the DbContext or changing their state.
Here is how you can utilize them. Add the following to your derived context class:
void SubscribeStateChangeEvents()
{
ChangeTracker.Tracked += OnEntityTracked;
ChangeTracker.StateChanged += OnEntityStateChanged;
}
void OnEntityStateChanged(object sender, EntityStateChangedEventArgs e)
{
ProcessLastModified(e.Entry);
}
void OnEntityTracked(object sender, EntityTrackedEventArgs e)
{
if (!e.FromQuery)
ProcessLastModified(e.Entry);
}
void ProcessLastModified(EntityEntry entry)
{
if (entry.State == EntityState.Modified || entry.State == EntityState.Added)
{
var property = entry.Metadata.FindProperty("LastModified");
if (property != null && property.ClrType == typeof(DateTime))
entry.CurrentValues[property] = DateTime.UtcNow;
}
}
and add
SubscribeStateChangeEvents();
to your derived context constructor(s).
And that's all. Once the context is subscribed to these events, it will be notified anytime the entity is initially tracked or its state changes. You are interested only with Modified and Added state not triggered by query materialization (if you don't need Added, then just exclude it from the if condition). Then you check if the entity contains DateTime LastModified property using the EF Core metadata services and if yes, simply update it with the current date/time.
The pattern in EF Core for this is to make the "LastUpdated" a Shadow Property, and update it during SaveChanges().
See, eg: Implementing Common Audit Fields with EF Core’s Shadow Property
By looking at the DbContext class documentation, you can override SaveChanges method and set the LastUpdated values in there, before continuing with base.SaveChanges() at the end.
One last piece - inside SaveChanges method, you can find the modified/newly added entities using ChangeTracker property.
I use Entity Framework 6.2 Code First (.net framework 4.6.1) and I map few entities to view via Table Attribute. It works for select operations and I handle Insert/Update/Delete with writing trigger to view at sql server side. It works as expected, however when I add a new migration, Entity Framework generate RenameTable scripts for used Table Attribute (actuallyis expected behavior for EF). But I want to intercept migration generation and change these entities tableName to original name.
my code like;
[MapToView("Users","UsersView")]
public class User
{
...
}
I wrote MapToView Attribute, this attribute inherited by TableAttribute and pass to second parameter to TableAttribute. I create this Attribute because if I intercept migration generation, return original table name with this attribute parameters.
In this case when I run "add-migration migrationName" it creates migration scripts like this;
RenameTable(name: "dbo.Users", newName: "UsersView");
but i want to create empty migration when I run "add-migration migrationName" script.
anyone can help me?
I solve the problem.
First: Problem is; When I Map Entity to View EF Code-first generate migration with ViewName. This is problem because I want to use View Instead of Table. So I solve problem with this instructions;
1- I Create BaseEntityConfiguration that Inherited from EntityTypeConfiguration and all entity configuration classes are inherited by.
for example:
public class UserConfig: BaseEntityConfiguration<User> //Generic Type is Entity
{
public UserConfig()
{
}
}
2- I Create MapToViewAttribute that inherited by TableAttribute
public class MapToViewAttribute : TableAttribute
{
public string TableName { get; }
public string ViewName { get; }
public MapToViewAttribute(string tableName, string viewName) : base(viewName)
{
TableName = tableName;
ViewName = viewName;
}
}
3- I Use MapToViewAttribute for example User Entity to use View.
[MapToView("User","UserView")]
public class User
{
...
}
And in BaseEntityConfiguration's Constructor I Get Generic Type and custom attributes. If any entity has MapToView Attribute, I pass to TableName parameter to ToTable Method. So at runtime EF uses View for these entities but doesn't create migration with RenameTable for these entities.
protected BaseEntityConfiguration()
{
var baseType = typeof(TEntityType);
var attributes = baseType.GetCustomAttributes(true);
foreach (var attr in attributes)
{
if (attr.GetType() == typeof(MapToViewAttribute))
{
var tableName = ((MapToViewAttribute)attr).TableName;
ToTable(tableName);
}
}
}
Last EF don't use your configuration files, so you must tell the EF to use this in DbContext class's InternalModelCreate method.
My implementation like this;
protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
var typesToRegister = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()
.GetTypes().Where(IsConfigurationType);
foreach (var type in typesToRegister)
{
dynamic configurationInstance = type.BaseType != null
&& type.BaseType.IsGenericType
&& type.BaseType.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(BaseEntityConfiguration<>)
? Activator.CreateInstance(type, culture)
: Activator.CreateInstance(type);
modelBuilder.Configurations.Add(configurationInstance);
}
modelBuilder.Types().Configure(t => t.ToTable(t.ClrType.Name));
BaseDbContext.InternalModelCreate(modelBuilder);
}
But if you use this approach you must create Insert, Update and Delete Triggers/Rule (if you use SQLServer trigger is an option but if you use postgresql rule is better option) because EF uses this view for insert, update and delete operations.
I'm trying to apply the unit of work pattern as described in this blog, but have bumped into the following problem: If I inject the associated DbSet into the repo only, e.g.
public ArticleRepository(DbSet<Article> articles)
{
this.articles = articles;
}
then how do I update records or set their status to modified?
Before I used
public void Update(Article article)
{
this.context.Entry(article).State = EntityState.Modified;
}
but with the new approach I don't have access to DbContext anymore. Neither DbSet.Add nor DbSet.Attach will work here, so how can I update the object in the context?
System.Data.Entity.Migrations.IDbSetExtensions contains the IDbSet extension AddOrUpdate<TEntity>. This will update the entity.
Some people like the advantage of not knowing whether they are adding a new entity or changing an existing one.
However, if you really want an error if you are updating an item that is not added yet, take a look at the Source Code of IDbSetExtensions.AddOrUpdate
Here you can see that the function first checks if the item exists and depending on the result adds or updates it as follows:
var existing = set.SingleOrDefault
(Expression.Lambda<Func <TEntity, bool>> (matchExpression, new[]
{parameter}));
if (existing != null)
{ // entity exists: update it
foreach (var keyProperty in keyProperties)
{
keyProperty.Single().SetValue
(entity, keyProperty.Single().GetValue (existing, null), null);
}
internalSet.InternalContext.Owner.Entry(existing)
.CurrentValues.SetValues (entity);
}
else
{ // not existing entity: Add it
internalSet.Add(entity);
}
If you don't want the AddOrUpdate, but really only an update, consider Creating your own Extension method for IDbSet. See Extension Methods (C# Programming Guide)
Is there a way to get EF CTP5 to create an index when it creates a schema?
Update: See here for how EF 6.1 handles this (as pointed out by juFo below).
You can take advantage of the new CTP5’s ExecuteSqlCommand method on Database class which allows raw SQL commands to be executed against the database.
The best place to invoke SqlCommand method for this purpose is inside a Seed method that has been overridden in a custom Initializer class. For example:
protected override void Seed(EntityMappingContext context)
{
context.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand("CREATE INDEX IX_NAME ON ...");
}
As some mentioned in the comments to Mortezas answer there is a CreateIndex/DropIndex method if you use migrations.
But if you are in "debug"/development mode and is changing the schema all the time and are recreating the database every time you can use the example mentioned in Morteza answer.
To make it a little easier, I have written a very simple extension method to make it strongly typed, as inspiration that I want to share with anyone who reads this question and maybe would like this approach aswell. Just change it to fit your needs and way of naming indexes.
You use it like this: context.Database.CreateUniqueIndex<User>(x => x.Name);
.
public static void CreateUniqueIndex<TModel>(this Database database, Expression<Func<TModel, object>> expression)
{
if (database == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("database");
// Assumes singular table name matching the name of the Model type
var tableName = typeof(TModel).Name;
var columnName = GetLambdaExpressionName(expression.Body);
var indexName = string.Format("IX_{0}_{1}", tableName, columnName);
var createIndexSql = string.Format("CREATE UNIQUE INDEX {0} ON {1} ({2})", indexName, tableName, columnName);
database.ExecuteSqlCommand(createIndexSql);
}
public static string GetLambdaExpressionName(Expression expression)
{
MemberExpression memberExp = expression as MemberExpression;
if (memberExp == null)
{
// Check if it is an UnaryExpression and unwrap it
var unaryExp = expression as UnaryExpression;
if (unaryExp != null)
memberExp = unaryExp.Operand as MemberExpression;
}
if (memberExp == null)
throw new ArgumentException("Cannot get name from expression", "expression");
return memberExp.Member.Name;
}
Update: From version 6.1 and onwards there is an [Index] attribute available.
For more info, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/data/jj591583#Index
This feature should be available in the near-future via data annotations and the Fluent API. Microsoft have added it into their public backlog:
http://entityframework.codeplex.com/workitem/list/basic?keywords=DevDiv [Id=87553]
Until then, you'll need to use a seed method on a custom Initializer class to execute the SQL to create the unique index, and if you're using code-first migrations, create a new migration for adding the unique index, and use the CreateIndex and DropIndex methods in your Up and Down methods for the migration to create and drop the index.
Check my answer here Entity Framework Code First Fluent Api: Adding Indexes to columns this allows you to define multi column indexes by using attributes on properties.
My database has a 'LastModifiedUser' column on every table in which I intend to collect the logged in user from an application who makes a change. I am not talking about the database user so essentially this is just a string on each entity. I would like to find a way to default this for each entity so that other developers don't have to remember to assign it any time they instantiate the entity.
So something like this would occur:
using (EntityContext ctx = new EntityContext())
{
MyEntity foo = new MyEntity();
// Trying to avoid having the following line every time
// a new entity is created/added.
foo.LastModifiedUser = Lookupuser();
ctx.Foos.Addobject(foo);
ctx.SaveChanges();
}
There is a perfect way to accomplish this in EF 4.0 by leveraging ObjectStateManager
First, you need to create a partial class for your ObjectContext and subscribe to
ObjectContext.SavingChanges Event. The best place to subscribe to this event is inside the OnContextCreated Method. This method is called by the context object’s constructor and the constructor overloads which is a partial method with no implementation:
partial void OnContextCreated() {
this.SavingChanges += Context_SavingChanges;
}
Now the actual code that will do the job:
void Context_SavingChanges(object sender, EventArgs e) {
IEnumerable<ObjectStateEntry> objectStateEntries =
from ose
in this.ObjectStateManager.GetObjectStateEntries(EntityState.Added
| EntityState.Modified)
where ose.Entity != null
select ose;
foreach (ObjectStateEntry entry in objectStateEntries) {
ReadOnlyCollection<FieldMetadata> fieldsMetaData = entry.CurrentValues
.DataRecordInfo.FieldMetadata;
FieldMetadata modifiedField = fieldsMetaData
.Where(f => f.FieldType.Name == "LastModifiedUser").FirstOrDefault();
if (modifiedField.FieldType != null) {
string fieldTypeName = modifiedField.FieldType.TypeUsage.EdmType.Name;
if (fieldTypeName == PrimitiveTypeKind.String.ToString()) {
entry.CurrentValues.SetString(modifiedField.Ordinal, Lookupuser());
}
}
}
}
Code Explanation:
This code locates any Added or Modified entries that have a LastModifiedUser property and then updates that property with the value coming from your custom Lookupuser() method.
In the foreach block, the query basically drills into the CurrentValues of each entry. Then, using the Where method, it looks at the names of each FieldMetaData item for that entry, picking up only those whose Name is LastModifiedUser. Next, the if statement verifies that the LastModifiedUser property is a String field; then it updates the field's value.
Another way to hook up this method (instead of subscribing to SavingChanges event) is by overriding the ObjectContext.SaveChanges Method.
By the way, the above code belongs to Julie Lerman from her Programming Entity Framework book.
EDIT for Self Tracking POCO Implementation:
If you have self tracking POCOs then what I would do is that I first change the T4 template to call the OnContextCreated() method. If you look at your ObjectContext.tt file, there is an Initialize() method that is called by all constructors, therefore a good candidate to call our OnContextCreated() method, so all we need to do is to change ObjectContext.tt file like this:
private void Initialize()
{
// Creating proxies requires the use of the ProxyDataContractResolver and
// may allow lazy loading which can expand the loaded graph during serialization.
ContextOptions.ProxyCreationEnabled = false;
ObjectMaterialized += new ObjectMaterializedEventHandler(HandleObjectMaterialized);
// We call our custom method here:
OnContextCreated();
}
And this will cause our OnContextCreated() to be called upon creation of the Context.
Now if you put your POCOs behind the service boundary, then it means that the ModifiedUserName must come with the rest of data from your WCF service consumer. You can either expose this
LastModifiedUser property to them to update or if it stores in another property and you wish to update LastModifiedUser from that property, then you can modify the 2nd code as follows:
foreach (ObjectStateEntry entry in objectStateEntries) {
ReadOnlyCollection fieldsMetaData = entry.CurrentValues
.DataRecordInfo.FieldMetadata;
FieldMetadata sourceField = fieldsMetaData
.Where(f => f.FieldType.Name == "YourPropertyName").FirstOrDefault();
FieldMetadata modifiedField = fieldsMetaData
.Where(f => f.FieldType.Name == "LastModifiedUser").FirstOrDefault();
if (modifiedField.FieldType != null) {
string fieldTypeName = modifiedField.FieldType.TypeUsage.EdmType.Name;
if (fieldTypeName == PrimitiveTypeKind.String.ToString()) {
entry.CurrentValues.SetString(modifiedField.Ordinal,
entry.CurrentValues[sourceField.Ordinal].ToString());
}
}
}
Hope this helps.
There is a nuget package for this now : https://www.nuget.org/packages/TrackerEnabledDbContext
Github: https://github.com/bilal-fazlani/tracker-enabled-dbcontext