Returning a DataTable using Entity Framework ExecuteStoreQuery - entity-framework

Question

I am working with a system that has many stored procedures that need to be displayed. Creating entities for each of my objects is not practical.
Is it possible and how would I return a DataTable using ExecuteStoreQuery ?
public ObjectResult<DataTable> MethodName(string fileSetName) {
using (var dataContext = new DataContext(_connectionString))
{
var returnDataTable = ((IObjectContextAdapter)dataContext).ObjectContext.ExecuteStoreQuery<DataTable>("SP_NAME","SP_PARAM");
return returnDataTable;
}

Answer 1

Yes it's possible, but it should be used for just dynamic result-set or raw SQL.
public DataTable ExecuteStoreQuery(string commandText, params Object[] parameters)
{
DataTable retVal = new DataTable();
retVal = context.ExecuteStoreQuery<DataTable>(commandText, parameters).FirstOrDefault();
return retVal;
}
Edit: It's better to use classical ADO.NET to get the data model rather than using Entity Framework because most probably you cannot use DataTable even if you can run the method: context.ExecuteStoreQuery<DataTable>(commandText, parameters).FirstOrDefault();
ADO.NET Example:
public DataSet GetResultReport(int questionId)
{
DataSet retVal = new DataSet();
EntityConnection entityConn = (EntityConnection)context.Connection;
SqlConnection sqlConn = (SqlConnection)entityConn.StoreConnection;
SqlCommand cmdReport = new SqlCommand([YourSpName], sqlConn);
SqlDataAdapter daReport = new SqlDataAdapter(cmdReport);
using (cmdReport)
{
SqlParameter questionIdPrm = new SqlParameter("QuestionId", questionId);
cmdReport.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
cmdReport.Parameters.Add(questionIdPrm);
daReport.Fill(retVal);
}
return retVal;
}

Answer 2

No, I don't think that'll work - Entity Framework is geared towards returning entities and isn't meant to return DataTable objects.
If you need DataTable objects, use straight ADO.NET instead.

Answer 3

This method uses the connection string from the entity framework to establish an ADO.NET connection, to a MySQL database in this example.
using MySql.Data.MySqlClient;
public DataSet GetReportSummary( int RecordID )
{
var context = new catalogEntities();
DataSet ds = new DataSet();
using ( MySqlConnection connection = new MySqlConnection( context.Database.Connection.ConnectionString ) )
{
using ( MySqlCommand cmd = new MySqlCommand( "ReportSummary", connection ) )
{
MySqlDataAdapter adapter = new MySqlDataAdapter( cmd );
adapter.SelectCommand.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
adapter.SelectCommand.Parameters.Add( new MySqlParameter( "#ID", RecordID ) );
adapter.Fill( ds );
}
}
return ds;
}

Answer 4

Yes it can easily be done like this:
var table = new DataTable();
using (var ctx = new SomeContext())
{
var cmd = ctx.Database.Connection.CreateCommand();
cmd.CommandText = "Select Col1, Col2 from SomeTable";
cmd.Connection.Open();
table.Load(cmd.ExecuteReader());
}

Answer 5

By the rule, you shouldn't use a DataSet inside a EF application. But, if you really need to (for instance, to feed a report), that solution should work (it's EF 6 code):
DataSet GetDataSet(string sql, CommandType commandType, Dictionary<string, Object> parameters)
{
// creates resulting dataset
var result = new DataSet();
// creates a data access context (DbContext descendant)
using (var context = new MyDbContext())
{
// creates a Command
var cmd = context.Database.Connection.CreateCommand();
cmd.CommandType = commandType;
cmd.CommandText = sql;
// adds all parameters
foreach (var pr in parameters)
{
var p = cmd.CreateParameter();
p.ParameterName = pr.Key;
p.Value = pr.Value;
cmd.Parameters.Add(p);
}
try
{
// executes
context.Database.Connection.Open();
var reader = cmd.ExecuteReader();
// loop through all resultsets (considering that it's possible to have more than one)
do
{
// loads the DataTable (schema will be fetch automatically)
var tb = new DataTable();
tb.Load(reader);
result.Tables.Add(tb);
} while (!reader.IsClosed);
}
finally
{
// closes the connection
context.Database.Connection.Close();
}
}
// returns the DataSet
return result;
}

Answer 6

In my Entity Framework based solution I need to replace one of my Linq queries with sql - for efficiency reasons.
Also I want my results in a DataTable from one stored procedure so that I could create a table value parameter to pass into a second stored procedure. So:
I'm using sql
I don't want a DataSet
Iterating an IEnumerable probably isn't going to cut it - for efficiency reasons
Also, I am using EF6, so I would prefer DbContext.SqlQuery over ObjectContext.ExecuteStoreQuery as the original poster requested.
However, I found that this just didn't work:
_Context.Database.SqlQuery<DataTable>(sql, parameters).FirstOrDefault();
This is my solution. It returns a DataTable that is fetched using an ADO.NET SqlDataReader - which I believe is faster than a SqlDataAdapter on read-only data. It doesn't strictly answer the question because it uses ADO.Net, but it shows how to do that after getting a hold of the connection from the DbContext
protected DataTable GetDataTable(string sql, params object[] parameters)
{
//didn't work - table had no columns or rows
//return Context.Database.SqlQuery<DataTable>(sql, parameters).FirstOrDefault();
DataTable result = new DataTable();
SqlConnection conn = Context.Database.Connection as SqlConnection;
if(conn == null)
{
throw new InvalidCastException("SqlConnection is invalid for this database");
}
using (SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(sql, conn))
{
cmd.Parameters.AddRange(parameters);
conn.Open();
using (SqlDataReader reader = cmd.ExecuteReader())
{
result.Load(reader);
}
return result;
}
}

Answer 7

The easiest way to return a DataTable using the EntityFramework is to do the following:
MetaTable metaTable = Global.DefaultModel.GetTable("Your EntitySetName");
For example:
MetaTable metaTable = Global.DefaultModel.GetTable("Employees");

Answer 8

Maybe your stored procedure could return a complex type?
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/somasegar/archive/2010/01/11/entity-framework-in-net-4.aspx