MVC Pulling data from cached or old database - c#

I have a C# mvc3 application that is using entity framework to pull data from my SQL server database. I discovered that it seemed to be pulling "old" or "cached" data instead of the data that was currently in the DB.
Once I updated the model it seemed to pull the new data.
My question is how do I make sure that I am always pulling "live" data from the database and not getting "cached" or "old" data?
When I ran the following code and checked the value of tblcompanyinfo.companyname it was returning an old company name (different from what was currently in the DB).
Once I updated the model and re-ran it, it returned the current value of company name.
private static ApptReminderEntities db = new ApptReminderEntities();
tblCompanyInfo tblcompanyinfo = db.tblCompanyInfoes.SingleOrDefault(t => (t.CompanyID == lCompanyID));
Thanks!

This may be due to your shared and static DbContext Instance i.e.
private static ApptReminderEntities db = new ApptReminderEntities();
Replace it with using block as below:
using(ApptReminderEntities db = new ApptReminderEntities())
{
tblCompanyInfo tblcompanyinfo = db.tblCompanyInfoes
.SingleOrDefault(t => (t.CompanyID == lCompanyID));
}
Using using statement, you are
Creating new ApptReminderEntities instance each time.
Doing whatever you want in database.
Using is automatically closing and disposing your instance.
So, for each trip to database, use using so that you will create new instance of your context each time.

The problem is that you're not creating a new context for each query - you've defined it as static.
You should always create a new ApptReminderEntities for each operation you do on the database.
You can use a repository pattern or similar. In my case, every operation I would do
var employees = new EmployeeRepository().GetEmployees();
and in the Employee repository constructor, it creates a new EmployeeEntities()
This makes it quite easy to unit test too, as I can overload my repository and pass in a dummy context.

Related

Entity Framework not reload my UPDATED data

i have problem with visual studio or entity framework.
Situation is simple:
I have Employes, and i have data grid view for present, when i click on Edit employe, i get ID from employe
int employeID= Convert.ToInt32(dgvEmployes.SelectedRows[0].Cells[0].Value);
frmEditEmploye edit = new frmEditEmploye ();
edit.employ = new ePoliticsServis.Data.Employ();
edit.employ= eServis.Data.EmployesService.SelectEmployeById(employeID);
and i get Employe from db, and i load employe in new form for editing,and i save updated date, and go in database refresh table and all is good, all is updated, butproblem is, when i back on preview, datagrid view (datagrid is refreshed with new data, binding, all is ok) and again click on same employe for editing, i have form for editing but with old data, no with new upadated data from database for the same employe, when i shotdown my application and run again then i get new data refreeshed and updated. i really dont know where is problem..
I suspect the problem is your data context is retrieving the data from memory and not the database see a previous answer of mine for a possible solution.
Remember to surround your data context in a Using statement to correctly dispose of it.
From your latest comment I can see you are probably not disposing of your context correctly, I think this is called 'connection' in your code. This is probably a member variable of the class,
You'll probably need to change the method to something like this:
//You need to check the type Connection is and use it here. I'm using 'Connection' because I don't know the name of your context.
Using (var myContext = new Connection())
{
var returnValue = myContext.dm.epsp_Employ_SelectById(id).FirstOrDefault();
}
return returnValue;
One more thing...Check the database is being updated after you save the record. If it isn't you need to call SaveChanges().

Caching Entities causes unwanted inserts

If I cache a entire table:
static List<Table1> table1Cache = context.Table1.ToList();
Then I use it to associate:
var context = new Context();
var t2 = new Table2();
t2.MyTable1Reference = table1Cache.Single(x=>x.Id == paramIntId);
context.SaveChanges();
A new row will be inserted to Table1, because of the third line. EF thinks that is a new entity. I know that I can do somethings like always Attaching the cache when create de context(I have 1 context per Request), or use MyTable1ReferenceID = table1Cache.Single(x=>x.Id == paramIntId).Id;
But its not secure, I can forget sometimes, there is a good solution?
yes, that makes sense because the entity is not currently associated with the current context. therefore EF thinks it's transient and saves a new instance.
if you are caching across contexts, then you don't want to store the object itself. that is related to the context. instead you want to store the data in cache. basically serializing and deserializing the entity. You will also need to associate the entity when the current context so the next time it's retrieved from cache you can save change to both the cache and the database.
if all this sounds like a lot, it is. keeping 2 data stores synchronized is not an easy problem to solve. I would take a look at the implementation of 2nd level cache for NHibernate.

Entity Framework updating two databases

As I've mentioned in a couple other questions, I'm currently trying to replace a home-grown ORM with the Entity Framework, now that our database can support it.
Currently, we have certain objects set up such that they are mapped to a table in our internal database and a table in the database that runs our website (which is not even in the same state, let alone on the same server). So, for example:
Part p = new Part(12345);
p.Name = "Renamed part";
p.Update();
will update both the internal and the web databases simultaneously to reflect that the part with ID 12345 is now named "Renamed part". This logic only needs to go one direction (internal -> web) for the time being. We access the web database through a LINQ-to-SQL DBML and its objects.
I think my question has two parts, although it's possible I'm not asking the right question in the first place.
Is there any kind of "OnUpdate()" event/method that I can use to trigger validation of "Should this be pushed to the web?" and then do the pushing? If there isn't anything by default, is there any other way I can insert logic between .SaveChanges() and when it hits the database?
Is there any way that I can specify for each object which DBML object it maps to, and for each EF auto-generated property which property on the L2S object to map to? The names often match up, but not always so I can't rely on that. Alternatively, can I modify the L2S objects in a generic way so that they can populate themselves from the EF object?
Sounds like a job for Sql Server replication.
You don't need to inter-connect the two together as it seems you're saying with question 2.
Just have the two separate databases with their own EF or L2S models and abstract them away using repositories with domain objects.
This is the solution I ended up going with. Note that the implementation of IAdvantageWebTable is inherited from the existing base class, so nothing special needed to be done for EF-based classes, once the T4 template was modified to inherit correctly.
public partial class EntityContext
{
public override int SaveChanges(System.Data.Objects.SaveOptions options)
{
var modified = this.ObjectStateManager.GetObjectStateEntries(EntityState.Modified | EntityState.Added); // Get the list of things to update
var result = base.SaveChanges(options); // Call the base SaveChanges, which clears that list.
using (var context = new WebDataContext()) // This is the second database context.
{
foreach (var obj in modified)
{
var table = obj.Entity as IAdvantageWebTable;
if (table != null)
{
table.UpdateWeb(context); // This is IAdvantageWebTable.UpdateWeb(), which calls all the existing logic I've had in place for years.
}
}
context.SubmitChanges();
}
return result;
}
}

Update using Entity Framework 1 (EF1) - on saveChanges()

I am trying to increment a counter which is stored in the DB.
So this requires me to do and update using Entity Framework 1 (EF1).
I am doing something like this:
CounterTBL OrderCounter = MyRepository.CounterTableDetails("ORDERID");
Booking Booking = new Booking();
Booking.BookingAdminID = User.ID;
Booking.BookingStatus = 2;
OrderCounter.CounterFLD = OrderCounter.CounterFLD + 1;
using (var ctx = new WhygoContext())
{
ctx.AddToBookings(Booking);
ctx.SaveChanges();
}
Booking is inserted fine, but I expected the existing record to be updated, which is was not.
A search around StackOverflow and the web shows that I should do something like this:
ctx.CounterTBL.Attach(OrderCounter);
ctx.ApplyCurrentValues("CounterTBLs", OrderCounter);
Or similar, but my intellisense doesn't like this and it doesn't build so I assume these are only a part of EF 4.
I am sadly stuck with EF 1. Is there a way to do this.
I'm pretty new to this stuff, so maybe I'm not going about this in the right way...
When you're inserting Booking you are creating a new instance of the context and call save changes only on that instance. Your OrderCounter was loaded from repository and I guess it used different context instance. You should share the context instance between both operations or you will have to call SaveChanges on both context.
Btw. your code is not very reliable if it is run in ASP.NET because concurrent clients can store the same counter.

How do you save a Linq object if you don't have its data context?

I have a Linq object, and I want to make changes to it and save it, like so:
public void DoSomething(MyClass obj) {
obj.MyProperty = "Changed!";
MyDataContext dc = new MyDataContext();
dc.GetTable<MyClass>().Attach(dc, true); // throws exception
dc.SubmitChanges();
}
The exception is:
System.InvalidOperationException: An entity can only be attached as modified without original state if it declares a version member or does not have an update check policy.
It looks like I have a few choices:
put a version member on every one of my Linq classes & tables (100+) that I need to use in this way.
find the data context that originally created the object and use that to submit changes.
implement OnLoaded in every class and save a copy of this object that I can pass to Attach() as the baseline object.
To hell with concurrency checking; load the DB version just before attaching and use that as the baseline object (NOT!!!)
Option (2) seems the most elegant method, particularly if I can find a way of storing a reference to the data context when the object is created. But - how?
Any other ideas?
EDIT
I tried to follow Jason Punyon's advice and create a concurrency field on on table as a test case. I set all the right properties (Time Stamp = true etc.) on the field in the dbml file, and I now have a concurrency field... and a different error:
System.NotSupportedException: An attempt has been made to Attach or Add an entity that is not new, perhaps having been loaded from another DataContext. This is not supported.
So what the heck am I supposed to attach, then, if not an existing entity? If I wanted a new record, I would do an InsertOnSubmit()! So how are you supposed to use Attach()?
Edit - FULL DISCLOSURE
OK, I can see it's time for full disclosure of why all the standard patterns aren't working for me.
I have been trying to be clever and make my interfaces much cleaner by hiding the DataContext from the "consumer" developers. This I have done by creating a base class
public class LinqedTable<T> where T : LinqedTable<T> {
...
}
... and every single one of my tables has the "other half" of its generated version declared like so:
public partial class MyClass : LinqedTable<MyClass> {
}
Now LinqedTable has a bunch of utility methods, most particularly things like:
public static T Get(long ID) {
// code to load the record with the given ID
// so you can write things like:
// MyClass obj = MyClass.Get(myID);
// instead of:
// MyClass obj = myDataContext.GetTable<MyClass>().Where(o => o.ID == myID).SingleOrDefault();
}
public static Table<T> GetTable() {
// so you can write queries like:
// var q = MyClass.GetTable();
// instead of:
// var q = myDataContext.GetTable<MyClass>();
}
Of course, as you can imagine, this means that LinqedTable must somehow be able to have access to a DataContext. Up until recently I was achieving this by caching the DataContext in a static context. Yes, "up until recently", because that "recently" is when I discovered that you're not really supposed to hang on to a DataContext for longer than a unit of work, otherwise all sorts of gremlins start coming out of the woodwork. Lesson learned.
So now I know that I can't hang on to that data context for too long... which is why I started experimenting with creating a DataContext on demand, cached only on the current LinqedTable instance. This then led to the problem where the newly created DataContext wants nothing to do with my object, because it "knows" that it's being unfaithful to the DataContext that created it.
Is there any way of pushing the DataContext info onto the LinqedTable at the time of creation or loading?
This really is a poser. I definitely do not want to compromise on all these convenience functions I've put into the LinqedTable base class, and I need to be able to let go of the DataContext when necessary and hang on to it while it's still needed.
Any other ideas?
Updating with LINQ to SQL is, um, interesting.
If the data context is gone (which in most situations, it should be), then you will need to get a new data context, and run a query to retrieve the object you want to update. It's an absolute rule in LINQ to SQL that you must retrieve an object to delete it, and it's just about as iron-clad that you should retrieve an object to update it as well. There are workarounds, but they are ugly and generally have lots more ways to get you in trouble. So just go get the record again and be done with it.
Once you have the re-fetched object, then update it with the content of your existing object that has the changes. Then do a SubmitChanges() on the new data context. That's it! LINQ to SQL will generate a fairly heavy-handed version of optimistic concurrency by comparing every value in the record to the original (in the re-fetched) record. If any value changed while you had the data, LINQ to SQL will throw a concurrency exception. (So you don't need to go altering all your tables for versioning or timestamps.)
If you have any questions about the generated update statements, you'll have to break out SQL Profiler and watch the updates go to the database. Which is actually a good idea, until you get confidence in the generated SQL.
One last note on transactions - the data context will generate a transaction for each SubmitChanges() call, if there is no ambient transaction. If you have several items to update and want to run them as one transaction, make sure you use the same data context for all of them, and wait to call SubmitChanges() until you've updated all the object contents.
If that approach to transactions isn't feasible, then look up the TransactionScope object. It will be your friend.
I think 2 is not the best option. It's sounding like you're going to create a single DataContext and keep it alive for the entire lifetime of your program which is a bad idea. DataContexts are lightweight objects meant to be spun up when you need them. Trying to keep the references around is also probably going to tightly couple areas of your program you'd rather keep separate.
Running a hundred ALTER TABLE statements one time, regenerating the context and keeping the architecture simple and decoupled is the elegant answer...
find the data context that originally created the object and use that to submit changes
Where did your datacontext go? Why is it so hard to find? You're only using one at any given time right?
So what the heck am I supposed to attach, then, if not an existing entity? If I wanted a new record, I would do an InsertOnSubmit()! So how are you supposed to use Attach()?
You're supposed to attach an instance that represents an existing record... but was not loaded by another datacontext - can't have two contexts tracking record state on the same instance. If you produce a new instance (ie. clone) you'll be good to go.
You might want to check out this article and its concurrency patterns for update and delete section.
The "An entity can only be attached as modified without original state if it declares a version member" error when attaching an entitity that has a timestamp member will (should) only occur if the entity has not travelled 'over the wire' (read: been serialized and deserialized again). If you're testing with a local test app that is not using WCF or something else that will result in the entities being serialized and deserialized then they will still keep references to the original datacontext through entitysets/entityrefs (associations/nav. properties).
If this is the case, you can work around it by serializing and deserializing it locally before calling the datacontext's .Attach method. E.g.:
internal static T CloneEntity<T>(T originalEntity)
{
Type entityType = typeof(T);
DataContractSerializer ser =
new DataContractSerializer(entityType);
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
ser.WriteObject(ms, originalEntity);
ms.Position = 0;
return (T)ser.ReadObject(ms);
}
}
Alternatively you can detach it by setting all entitysets/entityrefs to null, but that is more error prone so although a bit more expensive I just use the DataContractSerializer method above whenever I want to simulate n-tier behavior locally...
(related thread: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/linqtosql/thread/eeeee9ae-fafb-4627-aa2e-e30570f637ba )
You can reattach to a new DataContext. The only thing that prevents you from doing so under normal circumstances is the property changed event registrations that occur within the EntitySet<T> and EntityRef<T> classes. To allow the entity to be transferred between contexts, you first have to detach the entity from the DataContext, by removing these event registrations, and then later on reattach to the new context by using the DataContext.Attach() method.
Here's a good example.
When you retrieve the data in the first place, turn off object tracking on the context that does the retrieval. This will prevent the object state from being tracked on the original context. Then, when it's time to save the values, attach to the new context, refresh to set the original values on the object from the database, and then submit changes. The following worked for me when I tested it.
MyClass obj = null;
using (DataContext context = new DataContext())
{
context.ObjectTrackingEnabled = false;
obj = (from p in context.MyClasses
where p.ID == someId
select p).FirstOrDefault();
}
obj.Name += "test";
using (DataContext context2 = new ())
{
context2.MyClasses.Attach(obj);
context2.Refresh(System.Data.Linq.RefreshMode.KeepCurrentValues, obj);
context2.SubmitChanges();
}

Categories

Resources