Invalid attempt to call FieldCount when reader is closed - datareader

Question

The error above occurs when I try to do a dataReader.Read on the data recieved from the database. I know there are two rows in there so it isnt because no data actually exists.
Could it be the CommandBehavior.CloseConnection, causing the problem? I was told you had to do this right after a ExecuteReader? Is this correct?
try
{
_connection.Open();
using (_connection)
{
SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM Structure", _connection);
SqlDataReader dataReader = command.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.CloseConnection);
if (dataReader == null) return null;
var newData = new List<Structure>();
while (dataReader.Read())
{
var entity = new Structure
{
Id = (int)dataReader["StructureID"],
Path = (string)dataReader["Path"],
PathLevel = (string)dataReader["PathLevel"],
Description = (string)dataReader["Description"]
};
newData.Add(entity);
}
dataReader.Close();
return newData;
}
}
catch (SqlException ex)
{
AddError(new ErrorModel("An SqlException error has occured whilst trying to return descendants", ErrorHelper.ErrorTypes.Critical, ex));
return null;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
AddError(new ErrorModel("An error has occured whilst trying to return descendants", ErrorHelper.ErrorTypes.Critical, ex));
return null;
}
finally
{
_connection.Close();
}
}
Thanks in advance for any help.
Clare

Answer 1

When you use the Using in C#, after the last } from the using, the Connection automatically close, thats why you get the fieldcount to be closed when u try to read him, as that is impossible, because u want those datas, read then before close the using, or u can open and close manually the connection, by not using the (using)

Answer 2

Your code, as displayed is fine. I've taken it into a test project, and it works. It's not immediately clear why you get this message with the code shown above. Here are some debugging tips/suggestions. I hope they're valuable for you.
Create a breakpoint on the while (dataReader.Read()). Before it enters its codeblock, enter this in your Immediate or Watch Window: dataReader.HasRows. That should evaluate to true.
While stopped on that Read(), open your Locals window to inspect all the properties of dataReader. Ensure that the FieldCount is what you expect from your SELECT statement.
When stepping into this Read() iteration, does a student object get created at all? What's the value of dataReader["StructureID"] and all others in the Immediate Window?
It's not the CommandBehavior.CloseConnection causing the problem. That simply tells the connection to also close itself when you close the datareader.

Answer 3

When I got that error, it happened to be a command timeout problem (I was reading some large binary data). As a first attempt, I increased the command timeout (not the connection timeout!) and the problem was solved.
Note: while attempting to find out the problem, I tried to listen to the (Sql)connection's StateChanged event, but it turned out that the connection never fall in a "broken" state.

Answer 4

Same problem here. Tested all the above solutions
increase command timeout
close the connection after read
Here's the code
1 objCmd.Connection.Open()
2 objCmd.CommandTimeout = 3000
3 Dim objReader As OleDbDataReader = objCmd.ExecuteReader()
4 repeater.DataSource = objReader
5 CType(repeater, Control).DataBind()
6 objReader.Close()
7 objCmd.Connection.Dispose()
Moreover, at line 4 objReader has Closed = False

Answer 5

I got this exception while using the VS.NET debugger and trying to examine some IQueryable results. Bad decision because the IQueryable resulted in a large table scan. Stopping and restarting the debugger and NOT trying to preview this particular IQueryable was the workaround.