NHibernate generic repository without LINQ extension? - c#

I'm looking for answers from a few days ago with no results.
I'm trying to make an implementation of an IRepository interface for generic repository using NHibernate. Here is the interface:
public interface IRepository<TEntity, TKey> where TEntity : BaseEntity
{
TEntity GetById(TKey id);
void Insert(TEntity entidad);
void Update(TEntity entidad);
void Delete(TEntity entidad);
IQueryable<TEntity > Table { get; };
}
I know that there is an extension for the ISession interface, that brings the use of LINQ in my querys, but also I know that that plugin isn't working at 100% (I tested it but when I try to execute some complicated queryes, it thwows not implemented exception, so I can't use that plugin)
I'm using 100% the QueryOver function from the ISession, so.. Do you know any way to implement the IQueroOver function as IQueryable (without launch a "SELECT * " query)? If not, any others ideas for implement the generic repository pattern without use the LINQ extension?
Thank you very much

There's no such thing
Each person has their own definition of what features a 100% implemented LINQ provider should have.
One might expect a LINQ provider to be able to translate String.Equals(String, String, StringComparison) to a SQL expression that uses the correct collation, but unless the programmers who created the LINQ provider programmed it to do so, it's not going to be able to do it.
There is no end to the things we might want a LINQ provider to be able to do, so every LINQ provider has limitations.
There is no such thing as 100% when it comes to LINQ providers.
It is an unattainable concept.
It is infinity.
Thus, it is important to...
know the limitations of your LINQ provider, and
know how to work around those limitations.
Limitations
With NHibernate, knowing the limitations is a bit harder than it should be, because there is currently no official documentation for the NHibernate LINQ provider.
(NH-2444, patches are welcome!)
However, you can figure some of it out just by knowing that this LINQ provider is built on top of HQL, so any limitations that HQL has, LINQ will have as well.
There is no NHibernate query syntax that directly supports performing arbitrary left outer joins on unrelated columns (besides Native SQL, of course).
Queries in NHibernate are designed so that all of the information to perform a join is already stored in the mappings.
After that, all you have to do is specify the relationship, such as order.Customer, and NHibernate knows which tables and columns to join together. You should be able to do arbitrary cross joins using HQL or LINQ, and then you could add a where clause to make it behave like an inner join, but no left outer join.
Since none of the query syntaxes directly support what you want to do, building a LINQ/QueryOver wrapper (as apposed to the existing LINQ/HQL wrapper, and probably just as complex to implement) will gain you nothing.
You'll have to take the same steps to deal with this query whether you're using LINQ or QueryOver.
Workarounds
Since it is not possible for a LINQ provider to be complete, a well designed LINQ provider must be extensible.
That way, if the LINQ provider doesn't natively support the functionality you need, it doesn't ruin your day.
The NHibernate LINQ provider can be extended.
See Giorgetti Alessandro's blog for more information.
But of course, before we go off writing LINQ provider extensions, we should check to see if there's a simpler way to solve the problem.
A couple of possibilities come to mind:
The easiest way to handle this is to simply add the relationship to your NHibernate mappings, enabling you to leverage it in NHibernate queries (LINQ, or whatever).
If the two columns are of incompatible data types, or require some kind of manipulation before you can perform the join, consider fixing the data and the schema in order to enable a smoother mapping.
Another option is to get creative with subqueries or use multiple queries to emulate what your desired join would do. For example, see one of my other answers:
... this LEFT OUTER JOIN can be simulated by combining the results of two separate queries - one to get the orders...
var orders = session.Query<OrderHeader>()
.Fetch(x => x.CreatedBy);
... and another to get the people that have no orders:
var peopleWithNoOrders = session.Query<Person>()
.Where(p => !session.Query<OrderHeader>().Any(o => o.CreatedBy == p));
... because a left outer join is equivalent to an inner join plus additional results for non-matches. I don't know the details of the join you're trying to perform, but hopefully this will give you enough ideas to get started.

Related

LINQ to Entities does not recognize the method 'System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1

I am getting this error while using this IEquality comparer for intersection.
Can somebody identify where I am doing it wrong?
Pleas ask if you need more information.
When you write LINQ to Entities, you must remember that eventually all of your LINQ expression is translated to SQL. So for every method call you make in that expression, you should think if there's a reasonable way to translate it to SQL.
Having that in mind, you can see that:
SQL has no notion of .ToList(), which is probably the source of your current error. calls to .ToList() should be made at the end of the expression, as a way to "materialize" the query (i.e. make EF make the actual call to the database and return results).
Your database knows nothing about C# interfaces. You can't expect any implementation of IEqualityComparer to be translatable to SQL.
As #Dai has noted, you seem to be using too many joins. Make sure your model has the right navigation properties between entities, and use them.

How can I determine if a LINQ query is going to be LINQ to SQL vs. LINQ to Objects?

Usually the distinction between LINQ to SQL and LINQ to Objects isn't much of an issue, but how can I determine which is happening?
It would be useful to know when writing the code, but I fear one can only be sure at run time sometimes.
It's not micro optimization to make the distinction between Linq-To-Sql and Linq-To-Objects. The latter requires all data to be loaded into memory before you start filtering it. Of course, that can be a major issue.
Most LINQ methods are using deferred execution, which means that it's just building the query but it's not yet executed (like Select or Where). Few others are executing the query and materialize the result into an in-memory collection (like ToLIst or ToArray). If you use AsEnumerable you are also using Linq-To-Objects and no SQL is generated for the parts after it, which means that the data must be loaded into memory (yet still using deferred execution).
So consider the following two queries. The first selects and filters in the database:
var queryLondonCustomers = from cust in db.customers
where cust.City == "London"
select cust;
whereas the second selects all and filters via Linq-To-Objects:
var queryLondonCustomers = from cust in db.customers.AsEnumerable()
where cust.City == "London"
select cust;
The latter has one advantage: you can use any .NET method since it doesn't need to be translated to SQL (e.g. !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(cust.City)).
If you just get something that is an IEnumerable<T>, you can't be sure if it's actually a query or already an in-memory object. Even the try-cast to IQueryable<T> will not tell you for sure what it actually is because of the AsQueryable-method. Maybe you could try-cast it to a collection type. If the cast succeeds you can be sure that it's already materialized but otherwise it doesn't tell you if it's using Linq-To-Sql or Linq-To-Objects:
bool isMaterialized = queryLondonCustomers as ICollection<Customer> != null;
Related: EF ICollection Vs List Vs IEnumerable Vs IQueryable
The first solution comes into my mind is checking the query provider.
If the query is materialized, which means the data is loaded into memory, EnumerableQuery(T) is used. Otherwise, a special query provider is used, for example, System.Data.Entity.Internal.Linq.DbQueryProvider for entityframework.
var materialized = query
.AsQueryable()
.Provider
.GetType()
.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(EnumerableQuery<>);
However the above are ideal cases because someone can implement a custom query provider behaves like EnumerableQuery.
I had the same question, for different reasons.
Judging purely on your title & initial description (which is why google search brought me here).
Pre compilation, given an instance that implements IQueryable, there's no way to know the implementation behind the interface.
At runtime, you need to check the instance's Provider property like #Danny Chen mentioned.
public enum LinqProvider
{
Linq2SQL, Linq2Objects
}
public static class LinqProviderExtensions
{
public static LinqProvider LinqProvider(this IQueryable query)
{
if (query.Provider.GetType().IsGenericType && query.Provider.GetType().GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(EnumerableQuery<>))
return LinqProvider.Linq2Objects;
if (typeof(ICollection<>).MakeGenericType(query.ElementType).IsAssignableFrom(query.GetType()))
return LinqProvider.Linq2Objects;
return LinqProvider.Linq2SQL;
}
}
In our case, we are adding additional filters dynamically, but ran into issues with different handling of case-sensitivity/nullreference handling on different providers.
Hence, at runtime we had to tweak the filters that we add based on the type of provider, and ended up adding this extension method:
Using EF core in net core 6
To see if the provider is an EF provider, use the following code:
if (queryable.Provider is Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query.Internal.EntityQueryProvider)
{
// Queryable is backed by EF and is not an in-memory/client-side queryable.
}
One could get the opposite by testing the provider against System.Linq.EnumerableQuery (base type of EnumerableQuery<T> - so you don't have to test generics).
This is useful if you have methods like EF.Functions.Like(...) which can only be executed in the database - and you want to branch to something else in case of client-side execution.

Nhibernate Polymorphic Query - Eager Load Associations Without Polymorphic Fetch

I will start by saying I have already looked thoroughly in stack overflow, nhusers and the documentation for a possible solution to my issue.
I need to be able to query only the base class table in parts of my multi/future query when eagerly loading associations (although from the research I have done I don't think this is possible)
I have started to map an existing schema using fluent nhibernate as a proof of concept. I have mapped an inheritance hierarchy using table per sub class (The mappings all work perfectly fine so I won't paste them all in here). The hierarchy has around 15 sub classes and the base class has some additional associations. E.g.
Base
Dictionary<string, Attribute> Attributes
List<EntityChange> Changes
I need to eagerly load both of the collections as in the given scenario they are required for post processing and lazily loading them causes performance issues. I am eagerly loading them by a multi / future query:
var baseQuery = session.CreateCriteria<Base>("b")
.CreateCriteria("Nested", JoinType.LeftOuterJoin)
.CreateCriteria("Nested2", JoinType.LeftOuterJoin)
.CreateCriteria("Nested2.AdditionalNested", JoinType.LeftOuterJoin);
var logsQuery = session.CreateCriteria<Base>("b").CreateAlias("Changes", "c", JoinType.LeftOuterJoin,
Expression.And(Expression.Ge("c.EntryDate", changesStartDate), Expression.Le("c.EntryDate", changesEndDate)))
.AddOrder(Order.Desc("c.EntryDate"));
var attributesQuery = session.CreateCriteria<Base>("t").SetFetchMode("Attributes", FetchMode.Join);
logsQuery.Future<Base>();
attributesQuery.Future<Base>();
var results = baseQuery.Future<Base>().ToList();
The queries execute and return the correct results. But just to eagerly load the associations in this manner means that the attribute and changes queries have to perform a polymorphic fetch (the addition of about 15 left outer joins per query that aren't required). I know this is required for polymorphic querying but the base query will return the hierarchy that I desire. The other parts of the multi query that are issuing a polymorphic query are redundant.
I haven't yet mapped the whole of the hierarchy so there will be additional unecessary joins being performed and there are also other associations that could be loaded up front. These two combined without the addition of an increase in volume will lead to performance issues. The performance currently of this query is about 6 seconds (which admittedly is better than the 20 it's currently taking) but by messing around a bit with the query and taking out the extra joins I can get it down to about 2 seconds (this is a common query so getting it as low as possible is beneficial not just pleasing to me. It will also be run from multiple distributed machine so I would rather not get into a discussion about caching / 2nd level caching).
I have tried
using the class modifier in the query 'class = base'. I initially done this blindly but believe this is for discriminator values. Even if it is for the case statement in the SQL this will not prevent the extra joins.
Doing everything in a single query. This is slower than splitting it up as above and gives the cartesian product
Using 'Polymorphism.Explicit();' in the fluent mappings. This has no effect as I am using ClassMap with SubclassMaps so it is ignored. I tried changing all the maps to ClassMaps and using Join but this didn't give the desired behaviour.
Tried to trick nhibernate into joining the base class table onto itself for loading associations (basically load a more concrete type to prevent the polymorphic query) - create a derived class 'BaseOnlyLoading' which uses the same table and primary key as the base class. This was obviously a hack but I was just trying to see what's possible. NHibernate doesn't allow the class and sub class to use the same table.
Define the BaseOnlyLoadingMap to be a classmap with the same assocations as the BaseMap with a join back onto the Base. This was hopeful as assocation collections are resolved in the context based on full type name.
Use an interceptor which modifies the SQL that before it's execute. I wouldn't use this in production and just tried it out of interest. I passed an interceptor into a local session. This caused issues and I didn't proceed.
The HQL 'Type' query operator as explained here although I am not sure this has been implemented in the .NET version and might behave similarly to 1.
There is comment on highest rated answer (How to perform a non-polymorphic HQL query in Hibernate?) which suggest overriding the IsExplicitPolymorphism on the persister. I had a quick look and from what I remember the persister was either global per entity or created in the SessionImpl from a static factory which would prevent doing this. Even if this was possible I am not sure what sort of side effects this would have.
I tried using some SQL to load everything but even if I use a stored proc I am not sure how nhibernate will piece the graph back together. Maybe I could specify all the entities and aliases?
Specifying explicit per query would be nice. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

Multi tenant EF implementation w/ Stored Procedures

When using SProcs in EF4, I understand the concept of mapping views to entities, then using function imports to map my set/update/deletes to sprocs. The question I have is how this applies to multi tenant architecture. Consider the following scenario:
We have several hundred customers utilizing our multi-tenant database/application. Each customer has somewhere between 50-200 Accounts in the Accounts table. If I expose a view to EF, I cannot parameterize that view. So the following line:
query = (from e in context.Accounts select e).where(e => e.companyID = 1)
[forgive me if I'm syntactically incorrect. still learning EF!]
,by definition, would have to return all of the Accounts first, then filter using my wear clause. is this correct? I can't imagine how else the process would work.
Am I missing something here?
That is the difference between Linq-To-Objects and Linq-To-Entities. Linq-To-Objects operates on IEnumerable<T> and you pass delegates to its methods to define the query which will be executed in the memory. Linq-To-Entities operates on IQueryable<T> and you pass expressions to its methods do define expression tree which is transformed by Linq-to-entities provider into another syntax - to SQL!
So your query will be executed in the database and filtering will be done in the database as well. Be aware that after executing commands like AsEnumerable, ToArray, ToDictionary or ToList you transform the rest of the query to Linq-to-objects.
If you write the query on the result of stored procedure execution you are always doing Linq-to-objects only querying ObjectSets directly forms Linq-to-entities queries.
EF shouldn't be bringing all the accounts back first and then filtering. Rather, it should be be emitting a query with a WHERE clause.
You can check using SQL Profiler, just to be 100% sure.

LinqToSQL - no supported translation to SQL

I have been puzzling over a problem this morning with LinqToSQL. I'll try and summarise with the abbreviated example below to explain my point.
I have DB two tables:
table Parent
{
ParentId
}
table Child
{
ChildId
ParentId [FK]
Name
Age
}
These have LinqToSQL equivalent classes in my project, however, I have written two custom model classes that I want my UI to use, instead of using the LinqToSQL classes.
My data access from the front end goes through a service class, which in turn calls a repository class, which queries the data via linq.
At the repository level I return an IQueryable by:
return from data in _data.Children
select new CustomModel.Child
{
ChildId = data.ChildId,
ParentId = date.ParentId
};
My service layer then adds an additional query restriction by parent before returning the list of children for that parent.
return _repository.GetAllChildren().Where(c => c.Parent.ParentId == parentId).ToList();
So at this point, I get the method has no supported translation to sql error when I run everything as the c.Parent property of my custom model cannot be converted. [The c.Parent property is an object reference to the linked parent model class.]
That all makes sense so my question is this:
Can you provide the querying process
with some rules that will convert a
predicate expression into the correct
piece of SQL to run at the database
and therefore not trigger an error?
I haven't done much work with linq up to now so forgive my lack of experience if I haven't explained this well enough.
Also, for those commenting on my choice of architecture, I have changed it to get around this problem and I am just playing around with ideas at this stage. I'd like to know if there is an answer for future reference.
Many thanks if anyone can help.
Firstly, it begs the question: why is the repository returning the UI types? If the repo returned the database types, this wouldn't be an issue. Consider refactoring so that the repo deals only with the data model, and the UI does the translation at the end (after any composition).
If you mean "and have it translate down to the database" - then basically, no. Composable queries can only use types defined in the LINQ-to-SQL model, and a handful of supported standard functions. Something similar came up recently on a related question, see here.
For some scenarios (unusual logic, but using the typed defined in the LINQ-to-SQL model), you can use UDFs at the database, and write the logic yourself (in TSQL) - but only with LINQ-to-SQL (not EF).
If the volume isn't high, you can use LINQ-to-Objects for the last bit. Just add an .AsEnumerable() before the affected Where - this will do this bit of logic back in managed .NET code (but the predicate won't be used in the database query):
return _repository.GetAllChildren().AsEnumerable()
.Where(c => c.Parent.ParentId == parentId).ToList();

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