Is it possible to dynamically limit the number of columns returned from a LINQ to SQL query?
I have a database SQL View with over 50 columns. My app has a domain object with over 50 properties, one for each column. In my winforms project I bind a list of domain objects to a grid. By default only a few of the columns are visible however the user can turn on/off any of the columns.
Users are complaining the grid takes too long to load. I captured the LINQ generated SQL query then executed it within SQL Server Management Studio and verified its slow. If I alter the SQL statement, removing all the invisible columns, it runs almost instantly. There is a direct correlation between performance and the number of columns in the query.
I'm wondering if its possible to dynamically alter the number of columns returned from the LINQ generated SQL query? For example, here is what my code currently looks like:
public List<Entity> GetEntities()
{
using (var context = new CensusEntities())
{
return (from e in context.Entities
select e).ToList();
}
}
The context.Entities object was generated from a SQL View that contains over 50 columns so when the above executes it generates SQL like "SELECT Col1, Col2, Col3, ... Col50 FROM Entity INNER JOIN...". I would like to change the method signature to look like this:
public List<Entity> GetEntities(string[] visibleColumns)
{
using (var context = new CensusEntities())
{
return (from e in context.Entities
select e).ToList();
}
}
I'm not sure how to alter the body of this method to change the generated SQL statement to only return the column values I care about, all others can be NULL.
Something like this should work:
List<string> columns = new List<string>();
columns.Add("EmployeeID");
columns.Add("HireDate");
columns.Add("City");
Add columns to your list ^.
var result = Class.ReturnList(columns);
Pass the List to a method ^.
public static List<Entity> ReturnList(List<string> VisibleColumns)
{
StringBuilder SqlStatement = new StringBuilder();
SqlStatement.Append("Select ");
for (int i = 0; i < VisibleColumns.Count; i++)
{
if (i == VisibleColumns.Count - 1)
{
SqlStatement.Append(VisibleColumns[i]);
}
else
{
SqlStatement.Append(VisibleColumns[i]);
SqlStatement.Append(",");
}
}
SqlStatement.Append(" FROM Entity");
using (var ctx = new DataClasses1DataContext())
{
var result = ctx.ExecuteQuery<Entity>(SqlStatement.ToString());
return result.ToList();
}
}
This basically just makes a SELECT statement with all the fields you passed in with the VisibleColumns list.
In this case, the SQL statement that will be generated by the strings in the VisibleColumns list is:
Select EmployeeID, HireDate, City From Employee
(note: i used the Northwind database to try this out, hence the EmployeeID etc column names. You should replace them with your own, obviously.)
It is not trivial to do this dynamically, but if you have a limited set of combinations of columns you want to retreive you can do an explicit select like this:
public List<Entity> GetEntities()
{
using (var context = new CensusEntities())
{
return (from e in context.Entities
select new
{
col1 = e.col1,
col4 = e.col4,
col5 = e.col5,
}
).ToList()
.Select(x=>new Entity{col1 = x.col1, col4 = x.col4, col5 = x.col5}).ToList();
}
}
The extra select step is necessary because LINQ2SQL won't create partial entities for you.
Create a method for each common combination of columns (especially the initial) the users wants to retrieve.
However to make this dynamic you can build a query with you entity stored as a property in an anonymous class and collect your result properties in another anonymous class in second property in the same anonymous class. Finally you select your entities from the collected objects into objects of the correct type.
public List<Entity> GetEntities()
{
using (var context = new CensusEntities())
{
var combinedResult = (from e in context.Entities
select new {
Entity = e,
CollectedValues = new
{
// Insert default values of the correct type as placeholders
col1 = 0, // or "" for string or false for bool
col2 = 0, // or "" for string or false for bool
// ...
col49 = 0, // or "" for string or false for bool
col50 = 0, // or "" for string or false for bool
}
);
// Then copy each requested property
// col1
if (useCol1)
{
var combinedResult = (from e in combinedResult
select new {
Entity = e,
CollectedValues = new
{
col1 = e.Enitity.col1, // <-- here we update with the real value
col2 = e.CollectedValues.col2, // <-- here we just use any previous value
// ...
col49 = e.CollectedValues.col49, // <-- here we just use any previous value
col50 = e.CollectedValues.col50, // <-- here we just use any previous value }
);
}
// col2
if (useCol2)
{
// same as last time
col1 = e.CollectedValues.col1, // <-- here we just use any previous value
col2 = e.Enitity.col2, // <-- here we update with the real value
// ...
}
// repeat for all columns, update the column you want to fetch
// Just get the collected objects, discard the temporary
// Entity property. When the query is executed here only
// The properties we actually have used from the Entity object
// will be fetched from the database and mapped.
return combinedResult.Select(x => x.CollectedValues).ToList()
.Select(x=>new Entity{col1 = x.col1, col2 = x.col2, ... col50 = x.col50}).ToList();
}
}
There will be lots of code, and a pain to maintain, but it should work.
If you are going this route I suggest that you build a code generator that builds this code with reflection from your LINQ context.
Try something like this
using (var context = new CensusEntities())
{
var q = from e in context.Entities
select e.myfield1,e.myfield2;
return q.Tolist();
}
The resulting query should be lighter and also all the data conversion that goes underneath.
But if you really need to build dynamic input, I think some dynamic sql should be involved. So
build the dynamic SQL and get a data table
use a datatable to a dynamic object conversion as shown here
How can I convert a DataTable into a Dynamic object?
BTW a lot of hard work, I think you should considered using the first block of code.
Related
I want to reformat the data without going back to the database and in a dynamic way
So that the user can specify what columns he wants to collect
how I can
Write an sql string and execute it like EXECUTE IMMEDIAT in Oracle
Inside C# Linq
want to do a lock like combining two or more fields (multiply - merge...)
ToTable
It only allows me to specify the names of existing fields
FillDataSorce(params P)
{
// p It is a variable containing the field to be queried
//Like
//field1 = d["field1"] ,
//field2 = d["field2"] ,
//field sum = d["field1"] +d["field2"]
BSo.DataSource = from d in dt.AsEnumerable()
select new
{
P.Select(p => p) //col3col2 = d["col1"] + d["col2"] Dynamic field example
};
}
i know it is not complicated but i struggle with it.
I have IList<Material> collection
public class Material
{
public string Number { get; set; }
public decimal? Value { get; set; }
}
materials = new List<Material>();
materials.Add(new Material { Number = 111 });
materials.Add(new Material { Number = 222 });
And i have DbSet<Material> collection
with columns Number and ValueColumn
I need to update IList<Material> Value property based on DbSet<Material> collection but with following conditions
Only one query request into database
The returned data from database has to be limited by Number identifier (do not load whole database table into memory)
I tried following (based on my previous question)
Working solution 1, but download whole table into memory (monitored in sql server profiler).
var result = (
from db_m in db.Material
join m in model.Materials
on db_m.Number.ToString() equals m.Number
select new
{
db_m.Number,
db_m.Value
}
).ToList();
model.Materials.ToList().ForEach(m => m.Value= result.SingleOrDefault(db_m => db_m.Number.ToString() == m.Number).Value);
Working solution 2, but it execute query for each item in the collection.
model.Materials.ToList().ForEach(m => m.Value= db.Material.FirstOrDefault(db_m => db_m.Number.ToString() == m.Number).Value);
Incompletely solution, where i tried to use contains method
// I am trying to get new filtered collection from database, which i will iterate after.
var result = db.Material
.Where(x=>
// here is the reasonable error: cannot convert int into Material class, but i do not know how to solve this.
model.Materials.Contains(x.Number)
)
.Select(material => new Material { Number = material.Number.ToString(), Value = material.Value});
Any idea ? For me it is much easier to execute stored procedure with comma separated id values as a parameter and get the data directly, but i want to master linq too.
I'd do something like this without trying to get too cute :
var numbersToFilterby = model.Materials.Select(m => m.Number).ToArray();
...
var result = from db_m in db.Material where numbersToFilterBy.Contains(db_m.Number) select new { ... }
I have a datatable in memory and I need to select some records from it, walk through the records making changes to fields and they same the changes back to the datatable. I can do this with filters, views, and sql but I'm trying to do it in Linq.
var results = (from rows in dtTheRows.AsEnumerable()
select new
{
rows.Job,
}).Distinct();
foreach (var row in results)
{
firstRow = true;
thisOnHand = 0;
var here = from thisRow in dtTheRows.AsEnumerable()
orderby thisRow.PromisedDate
select new
{
thisRow.OnHandQuantity,
thisRow.Balance,
thisRow.RemainingQuantity
};
foreach(var theRow in here)
{
// business logic here ...
theRow.OnHandQuantity = 5;
} // foreach ...
The first linq query and foreach are gain the list of subsets of data to be considered. I include it here in case it is relevant. My problem is at this line:
heRow.OnHandQuantity = 5;
My error is:
"Error 19 Property or indexer 'AnonymousType#1.OnHandQuantity' cannot be assigned to -- it is read only"
What am I missing here? Can I update this query back into the original datatable?
var here = from thisRow in dtTheRows.AsEnumerable()
orderby thisRow.PromisedDate
select new
{
thisRow.OnHandQuantity,
thisRow.Balance,
thisRow.RemainingQuantity
};
Instead of passing three variables in select, pass thisRow itself. That may solve error on statement - theRow.OnHandQuantity = 5;
The error is self descriptive, you can't update/modify an anonymous type. You have to return the original entity you want to modify from your query.
select thisRow;
instead of
select new
{
thisRow.OnHandQuantity,
thisRow.Balance,
thisRow.RemainingQuantity
};
How I can do just this ( a.myFavorits.Add()) without pulling the all object to var a , because a has a lot of data, and I don't want to pull all a object, but I can't find a way do do it.
I want to do the lambada and the linq without return something but linq is always return something
public static void addFavorits(long f,long idUser)
{
using (var db = dataBase())
{
// here i pull object user from users table
var a = db.users.Where(c => c.id == idUser).SingleOrDefault();
// here i adding to the object field myFavorits new value
//myFavorits is also a table of entitys that connected to user object
a.myFavorits.Add(new BE.FavoritsUsersLong { myLong = f });
db.SaveChanges();
}
}
I thought to do something like this but i dont know how to set the field users_TableId that is the key that connect the 2 tables
public static void addFavorits(long favoritId,long idUser)
{
using (var db = dataBase())
{
db.favoritsUsersLong.Add(new BE.FavoritsUsersLong {myLong = favoritId}
/*,users_TableId =idUser*/);
db.SaveChanges();
}
}
Here's a concrete example that does what you want. In this example, only the Name of a Company is modified and saved. Or an item is added to one of its collections.
var cmp = new Company{ CmpId = 1, Name = "Cmp1" }; // CmpId is the primary key
db.Companies.Attach(cmp);
db.Entry(cmp).Property(c => c.Name).IsModified = true;
// Or add an entity to a collection:
cmp.Users = new[] {new User { Name = "a1", PassWord = "a1" } };
try
{
db.Configuration.ValidateOnSaveEnabled = false;
db.SaveChanges();
}
finally
{
db.Configuration.ValidateOnSaveEnabled = true;
}
Result in SQL:
DECLARE #0 VarChar(30) = 'Cmp1'
DECLARE #1 Int = 1
UPDATE [dbo].[Company]
SET [Name] = #0
WHERE ([CmpId] = #1)
There are a few things to note here:
Obviously you need to know the Id of the entity you want to modify.
The object you create is called a stub entity, which is an incomplete entity. When you try to save such an entity, EF is very likely to complain about null values in required properties. That's why almost certain you'd have to disable validation (temporarily, or, better, dispose the context immediately).
If you want to add an item to a collection, you should leave validation enabled, because you'd want to know for sure that the new entity is valid. So you shouldn't mix these two ways to use a stub entity.
If you often need roughly the same small part of your entity you may consider table splitting.
I'm guessing this is what you want? I don't see you 'editting' I only see you adding.
using (var db = dataBase())
{
var a = new user();
....
//set properties etc..
...
a.myFavorits.Add(new BE.FavoritsUsersLong { myLong = f });
db.users.Add(a);
db.SaveChanges();
}
Importing a spreadsheet I have filled a DataTable object with that data and returns expected results.
Attempting to put this into a format I can easily query to search for problem records I have done the following
public void Something(DataTable dt)
{
var data = from row in dt.AsEnumerable()
select row["Order"].ToString();
}
Works as expected giving me a list of orders. However I cannot add other fields to this EnumerableRowCollection. Attempting to add other fields as follows gives me an error
public void Something(DataTable dt)
{
// row["Version"] throws an error on me
var data = from row in dt.AsEnumerable()
select row["Order"].ToString(), row["Version"].ToString();
}
Error: "A local variable named 'row' cannot be declared in this scope because it would give a different meaning to 'row' which is already used in a 'child' scope to donate something else"
I'm thinking I need to alias the column name but I'm having no luck. What am I missing here?
It sounds like you're writing a bad select statement. Try the following:
public void Something(DataTable dt)
{
var data = from row in dt.AsEnumerable()
select new {
Order = row["Order"].ToString(),
Something = row["Something"].ToString(),
Customer = row["Customer"].ToString(),
Address = row["Address"].ToString()
};
}
That will create a new collection of Anonymously Typed objects that you can iterate over and use as needed. Keep in mind, though, that you want be able to return data from the function. If you need that functionality, you need to create a concrete type to use (in place of anonymous types).
I think you should use select new like this query for example:
var q = from o in db.Orders
where o.Products.ProductName.StartsWith("Asset") &&
o.PaymentApproved == true
select new { name = o.Contacts.FirstName + " " +
o.Contacts.LastName,
product = o.Products.ProductName,
version = o.Products.Version +
(o.Products.SubVersion * 0.1)
};
You probably want the following.
var data = from row
in dt.AsEnumerable()
select new { Order = row["Order"].ToString(), Version = row["Version"].ToString() };