What is a good way to model my SQL Table Class? - c#

I am trying to retrieve a table with several columns and I have created a class that will be able to represent each row as an object with properties.
E.G.
class TableA {
int prop1;
int prop2;
....
}
I am using SqlDataReader to read the value for each row and then assigning it to the object that I have created
TableA tab = new TableA()
tab.prop1 = sqlreader.GetValue(prop1_ordinal).toString();
At the moment I need to explicitly state:
tab.prop1 = etc2..
tab.prop2 = etc2...
This can be quite troublesome when I have quite a few properties (20+ or so).
What other alternatives should I be using?
I am thinking of using a Dictionary or something of the sort but am not sure how to start. That way, I can just use a foreach loop to go through a list of all the properties and set the values.
Essentially, I don't want to put in too much redundant code just to set values.
After all the data has been put into the object, I will essentially write it to a CSV file after the values have been manipulated and changed.
Any thoughts will be appreciated?

Have you tried using linq to generate your table & schema:
[Table(Name = "Test")]
public class TableA
{
[Column(IsPrimaryKey = true)]
public int ID { get; set; }
[Column]
public int prop1 { get; set; }
[Column]
public int prop2 { get; set; }
}
static int main()
{
var constr = #" Data Source=NOTEBOOK\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=DemoDataContext;Integrated Security=True " ;
var context = new DataContext(constr) { Log = Console.Out };
var metaTable = context.Mapping.GetTable( typeof (TableA));
var typeName = " System.Data.Linq.SqlClient.SqlBuilder " ;
var type = typeof (DataContext).Assembly.GetType(typeName);
var bf = BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.InvokeMethod;
var sql = type.InvokeMember( " GetCreateTableCommand " , bf, null , null , new [] { metaTable });
Console.WriteLine(sql);
// Excute SQL Command
}
Make sure to include System.Data.Linq and:
using System.Data.Linq.Mapping;
using System.Data.Linq;
using System.Reflection;
You can find more information at:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb384396.aspx
Once you have everything mapped you can import the data into an object by using linq funcitonality to fill in objects for you !
And an example:
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/2bdfdde6-596e-4880-a3b3-3cb3ec365245/could-i-use-linq-to-sql-create-table-in-my-database?forum=linqtosql

EntityFramework is an ORM (object relational mapper) designed for such a thing. It's perfect for an enterprise-level product, but it's pretty big and bulky if you have a smaller project. Dapper is a super-light-weight ORM that will essentially do the
tab.prop1 = sqlreader.GetValue(prop1_ordinal).toString();
part for you if you name the properties the same as the column names. You pull Dapper in with NuGet. The following code will give you an IEnumerable of your object (TModel).
IEnumerable<TModel> result;
using (MySqlConnection conn = new MySqlConnection(_mysqlConnString))
{
// "Query" is a Dapper extension method that stuffs the datareader into objects based on the column names
result = conn.Query<TModel>("Select * from YourTable");
}
// do stuff with result
This links to a full example, instead of just the piece I pulled out of my current project. http://www.tritac.com/bp-24-dapper-net-by-example

The problem you are describing is one of the main reasons we have Object Relational Mappers (ORM's). The easiest to use for Microsoft SQL Server is probably Linq2Sql, but Entity Framework allows you to use other database engines and will allow you to define more complicated relationships. Another solid ORM is NHibernate.

If you find EntityFramework to be big and bulky you could try Trinity Framework it's a small database first ORM framework with T4 templates and smart mapping to you database.
nugget: PM> Install-Package TrinityFramework

Related

Slapper only maps one object when selecting multiple objects from database

I have some C# classes which represent database objects, some of which contain one or more other custom objects or enumerables of custom objects. I'm using dapper for queries, and slapper to map to the custom objects. It works great for single object. I can easily grab a parent object with a specific ID from the database, do some inner joins, and map it and all the things it "owns" to my custom objects in C#. Problem comes when I want to do a select over multiple parent-IDs.
Some context, let's say I have a person, that person has a list of hobbies which have an ID and a Description, a list of days they're available which also have an ID and Description, and maybe another custom field such as whether they have or are even willing to be around children which can also boil down to a simple ID and Description. We'll call that last field child status. I'd write a select statement like this:
SELECT
,person.id as Id
,person.first_name as FirstName
,person.last_name as LastName
,hobby.Id as Hobbies_Id
,hobby.Description as Hobbies_Description
,avail.Id as Availabilities_Id
,avail.Description as Availabities_Description
,child.Id as ChildStatus_Id
,child.Description as ChildStatus_Description
FROM
users.users person
JOIN
users.userhobbies uhobby
ON
person.id = uhobby.UserId -- one-to-many with relational table
JOIN
users.avail hobby
ON
uhobby.HobbyId = hobby.Id
JOIN
users.useravailabilities uavail
ON
person.id = uavail.UserId -- one-to-many with relational table
JOIN
users.availabilities avail
ON
uavail.AvailId = avail.Id
JOIN
users.childstatuses child
ON
person.ChildStatusId = child.Id
Then I want this mapped to a user like this:
class User
{
public Guid Id {get; set;}
public string FirstName {get; set;}
public string LastName {get; set;}
public IEnumerable<Hobby> Hobbies {get; set;}
public IEnumerable<Availability> Availabilities {get; set;}
public ChildStatus ChildStatus {get; set;}
}
Since I'm using exact naming conventions and everything here, the query from Dapper and the Automapping work great just like this:
// Using the above sql in a variable
var data = Connection.Query<dynamic>(sql);
var dataReal = Slapper.AutoMapper.MapDynamic<User>(data);
return dataReal;
This works great, but it only ever returns one user. I have a similar method which takes an ID and all of my test users can be retrieved perfectly by passing the ID. I've tried scouring the internet, looking through documentation, and all I found was this: https://github.com/SlapperAutoMapper/Slapper.AutoMapper/issues/57 who seemed to just slip through the cracks. I also tried mapping the dynamic data to various other structures with no luck. Thanks in advance!
Update:
I've come up with a somewhat brutal, "sledgehammer" type solution. I'm not sure if, at this point, I'm forcing myself to use Slapper when there might be a more convenient solution. However, I wanted to ensure anyone in a similar situation might have a chance at making it work. Here's the new C# section:
var data = Connection.Query<dynamic>(sql);
IEnumerable<Guid> Ids = data.Select(row => (Guid)row.id).Distinct();
List<User> results = new List<User>();
foreach (Guid Id in Ids)
{
IEnumerable<dynamic> rows = data.Where(x => { return ((Guid) x.id).Equals(Id); });
User model = (Slapper.AutoMapper.MapDynamic<User>(rows, false) as IEnumerable<User>).FirstOrDefault();
if (model != null)
{
results.Add(model);
}
}
return results;
As you can see, I'm generating a list of unique "primary object" ID's and selecting those rows into their own lists, which I then pass to Slapper. I've passed the "cache = false" parameter to avoid squeezing unrelated data into every object after the first. I could probably get around this by actually keeping the UserHobby/UserAvailability/UserPhoto Ids in place, but I don't like the way that makes my object look. Hopefully this helps someone.
I'm not familiar with Slapper, but I'll show you what I've done with Dapper to construct a complex graph of objects with bi-directional references.
In short, construct a Dictionary or KeyedCollection prior to calling connection.Query<>, then reference it inside the Dapper lambda expression.
This method returns a list of service calls. Each service call is assigned to one technician and one customer. However, a technician may be assigned multiple service calls to multiple customers. And a customer may have multiple technicians on-site.
public ServiceCallResponse GetServiceCallsDapper(ServiceCallRequest Request)
{
var queryParameters = new {statuses = Request.Statuses, createDate = Request.CreateDate};
const string splitOn = "Number,Id"; // Id indicates beginning of second class (Technician). Number indicates begining of third class (Customer).
// Note multiple columns are named "Number". See note below about how Dapper maps columns to class properties.
// Note Dapper supports parameterized queries to protect against SQL injection attacks, including parameterized "where in" clauses.
const string query = #"sql query here..."
ServiceCallResponse response = new ServiceCallResponse(); // Keyed collection properties created in constructor.
using (IDbConnection connection = new SqlConnection("DB connection string here..."))
{
connection.Open();
// Dapper adds a generic method, Query<>, to the IDbConnection interface.
// Query<(1)ServiceCall, (2)Technician, (3)Customer, (4)ServiceCall> means
// construct a (1)ServiceCall, (2)Technician, and (3)Customer class per row, add to an IEnumerable<(4)ServiceCall> collection, and return the collection.
// Query<TFirst, TSecond, TThird, TReturn> expects SQL columns to appear in the same order as the generic types.
// It maps columns to the first class, once it finds a column named "Id" it maps to the second class, etc.
// To split on a column other than "Id", specify a splitOn parameter.
// To split for more than two classes, specify a comma-delimited splitOn parameter.
response.ServiceCalls.AddRange(connection.Query<ServiceCall, Technician, Customer, ServiceCall>(query, (ServiceCall, Technician, Customer) =>
{
// Notice Dapper creates many objects that will be discarded immediately (Technician & Customer parameters to lambda expression).
// The lambda expression sets references to existing objects, so the Dapper-constructed objects will be garbage-collected.
// So this is the cost of using Dapper. We trade unnecessary object construction for simpler code (compared to constructing objects from IDataReader).
// Each row in query results represents a single service call.
// However, rows repeat technician and customer data through joined tables.
// Avoid constructing duplicate technician and customer classes.
// Refer to existing objects in global collections, or add Dapper-mapped objects to global collections.
// This avoid creating duplicate objects to represent same data.
// Newtonsoft JSON serializer preserves object instances from service to client.
Technician technician;
Customer customer;
if (response.Technicians.Contains(Technician.Id))
{
technician = response.Technicians[Technician.Id];
}
else
{
response.Technicians.Add(Technician);
technician = Technician;
}
if (response.Customers.Contains(Customer.Number))
{
customer = response.Customers[Customer.Number];
}
else
{
response.Customers.Add(Customer);
customer = Customer;
}
// Set object associations.
ServiceCall.Technician = technician;
ServiceCall.Customer = customer;
technician.ServiceCalls.Add(ServiceCall);
if (!technician.Customers.Contains(customer))
{
technician.Customers.Add(customer);
}
customer.ServiceCalls.Add(ServiceCall);
if (!customer.Technicians.Contains(technician))
{
customer.Technicians.Add(technician);
}
return ServiceCall;
}, queryParameters, splitOn: splitOn));
}
return response;
}
Using this technique requires you to set PreserveReferencesHandling = true on the JsonSerializer class so object references are preserved on the client-side. Otherwise, Json.NET will construct duplicate objects and technician.Customers.Count will always == 1.
For example, if John Doe is assigned a service call at Acme and another at Contoso, his technician.Customers.Count will equal 1 if you leave PreserveReferencesHandling == false (Json.NET will construct two Technician objects each named John Doe).

Need help looping and testing Entities in Entity Framework

I have a new project using Entity Framework that is using Database First. This is because it looks at sql data that already exists on several different customers sites. The one issue we sometimes find is where there are slight discrepancies between the database our end and the database at a customer. For example we may have a field that is nullable and on some customers its set to not null which then causes an EF error at their end. I don't know whey they are different as they existed before I got anywhere near them.
I have the following code already which loops through the dbsets but I can't seem to create a sql query that passes the dbset type to run a query against it to test if the model matches the database, can anyone help?
System.Data.Entity.Core.Objects.ObjectContext ctx = ((System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.IObjectContextAdapter)db).ObjectContext;
System.Data.Entity.Core.Metadata.Edm.MetadataWorkspace workspace = ctx.MetadataWorkspace;
IEnumerable<System.Data.Entity.Core.Metadata.Edm.EntityType> tables = workspace.GetItems<System.Data.Entity.Core.Metadata.Edm.EntityType>(System.Data.Entity.Core.Metadata.Edm.DataSpace.SSpace);
foreach (var table in tables)
{
var tableSchema = table.MetadataProperties["TableName"].Value.ToString();
// Need something here to dynamically select all results
// If could pass the Entity Type to db.Database.SqlQuery<type> problem would be solved
}
You could use the built in method of entity framework
context.Database.CompatibleWithModel(true);
Or you could read the systables of the database.
This code may not match your sql server!
SELECT TABLE_NAME, COLUMN_NAME, DOMAIN_NAME, NULLS, WIDTH FROM SYSTABLE LEFT JOIN SYSCOLUMN ON SYSTABLE.TABLE_ID = SYSCOLUMN.TABLE_ID LEFT JOIN SYSDOMAIN ON SYSCOLUMN.DOMAIN_ID = SYSDOMAIN.DOMAIN_ID WHERE SYSTABLE.TABLE_NAME = 'YourTableHere'
This query will return all columns of a table, the types and if the column is nullable. Then compare this query result against your model. You can use the metadata or you read the properties from the classes with GetProperties.
public class DbColumnTypes {
public String TABLE_NAME { get; set; };
public String COLUMN_NAME { get; set; };
public String DOMAIN_NAME { get; set; };
public Boolean ISNULLABLE { get; set; };
}
List<DbColumnTypes> dbColumns; //Read that from your DB
PropertyInfo[] properties = type.GetProperties(BindingFlags.Public).ToArray();
foreach(PropertyInfo item in properties)
{
if(dbColumns.Any(x => x.COLUMN_NAME == item.Name) {
//compare the Database types to the C# types (varchar with string, etc.)
if(item.Property.PropertyType.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(Nullable<>)
{
//check if database column is nullable
}
}
}
You can wrap that code in a method an call it for every class you have in your ef model. With this you can check if your database matches your model.
To get all types in your model you could enumerate all types in a namespace:
var theList = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetTypes().Where(t => t.Namespace == "your.name.space").ToList();
With this list you can go trough all classes and call the method above.

Simple get using NHibernate (using mapping-by-code) is extremely slow

So i've run out of ideas as to why this is so slow. Maybe you can help.
So I am trying to do a simple get on record from an oracle db using nHibernate mapping by code. I'm using nHibernate verison 3.3.1.4 from nuget.
Here is the mapping code:
public class Person
{
public virtual PersonKey Key { get; set; }
public virtual string FirstName { get; set; }
public virtual string LastName { get; set; }
}
public class PersonKey
{
public virtual string PersonId { get; set; }
public override bool Equals(object obj)
{
if (obj == null)
return false;
var t = obj as PersonKey;
if (t == null)
return false;
if (PersonId == t.PersonId)
return true;
return false;
}
public override int GetHashCode()
{
return (PersonId).GetHashCode();
}
}
public class PersonMap : ClassMapping<Person>
{
public PersonMap()
{
Schema("MyDB");
Table("Person");
ComponentAsId(id => id.Key, idMapper => idMapper.Property(p => p.PersonId));
Property(i => i.FirstName);
Property(i => i.LastName);
}
}
Here is the code to create the sessionfactory and retrieve the data.
var mapper = new ModelMapper();
var cfg = new Configuration();
mapper.AddMappings(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetExportedTypes());
cfg.DataBaseIntegration(c =>
{
c.ConnectionString = #"User Id=user;Password=password;Data Source=MyDB;";
c.Driver<OracleClientDriver>();
c.Dialect<Oracle10gDialect>();
c.LogSqlInConsole = true;
c.LogFormattedSql = true;
c.AutoCommentSql = true;
});
cfg.AddMapping(mapper.CompileMappingForAllExplicitlyAddedEntities());
var sessionFactory = cfg.BuildSessionFactory();
stopwatch.Stop();
Console.WriteLine("Building session factory: {0}", stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
stopwatch.Restart();
Person entity = null;
using (var session = sessionFactory.OpenSession())
using(var tx = session.BeginTransaction())
{
entity = (Person) session.Get("Person", new PersonKey(){PersonId = "1"});
tx.Commit();
}
The query generated is as follows:
SELECT person0_.PersonId as PersonId0_0_,
person0_.FirstName as FirstName0_0_, person0_.LastName as LastName0_0_,
FROM MyDB.Person person0_
WHERE person0_.PersonId=:p0;
:p0 = '1'
It takes roughly 80-100 seconds on average to get access to the retrieved object. This includes creating the session as well.
So some obvious things I looked for:
The personId coloumn is indexed (it is the primary key of the table).
The database is on a server, so to check it is not the network eating the time, I ran the above generated query using AD0.Net (Oracleconnection + Oraclecommand). This roughly takes 180ms this includes creating the connection and mapping the record to entity class.
Ran the query via PL/SQL developer (took about 32ms).
Check the query plan on the generated query (confirmed the use of the index unique scan and not a full table scan).
I've run the above code against a similar sized sql 2012 db on my local and, it's crazy fast incomparison, around 180ms via the NHibernate code.
Ran nhprof (evaluation) and got the following results:
It seems like the query is run and the results are returned very fast from the database (according to nhprof results), but maybe its the hydration of the query's values into the entity that is taking up the time. I am at a loss at what could be chewing up the time!
My next move is to attach the nHibernate source to the solution and step through it, but download access at work is limited (even to github!). Till then any ideas?
Cheers.
Update: So I've got the nHibernate source in my project and stepped through it. Everything is moving along nicely until the program gets to this piece of code:
for (count = 0; count < maxRows && rs.Read(); count++)
It is on rs.Read() that the execution eats up the time, where rs is the oracle datareader. This piece of code is in the DoQuery function in the Loader.cs file.
The odd thing is if the query passed in is a non-parameterised dynamic query (e.g. select ... from person where personid = '1'), the execution is lighting fast (~ 1ms), but if its parameterised (e.g. select ... from person where personid = :p1), then it's ridiculously slow. Since I want to harness the power of nHibernate, I need to use the generated parameterised queries. I am still trying to figure out why the oracle reader
Found the issue and solution blogged here by Deep Shah.
Essentially, parameterized queries in NHibernate with the microsoft driver for oracle was the reason for the bottleneck.
He goes on to share two solutions:
Replace the current Microsoft oracle driver with an oracle developed Oracle Data Client Driver. Running the same query using new driver eliminates the performance bottelneck. For this to work you will need to have Oracle Data Access Components (ODAC) installed on the machine from which you intend to fire the query.
When setting a parameter on the query via NHibernate use "query.SetAnsiString" instead of "query.SetParameter" when querying against VARCHAR columns.
I have verified both solutions and they both work. Solution one is the one I went with, since I am using mapping-by-code and I am leaving the query generation to nHibernate.
I believe you can also set the data type to ansi string in your mapping as referenced in this post:
NHibernate 3 specify sql data type with loquacious syntax

How do I write one to many query in Dapper.Net?

I've written this code to project one to many relation but it's not working:
using (var connection = new SqlConnection(connectionString))
{
connection.Open();
IEnumerable<Store> stores = connection.Query<Store, IEnumerable<Employee>, Store>
(#"Select Stores.Id as StoreId, Stores.Name,
Employees.Id as EmployeeId, Employees.FirstName,
Employees.LastName, Employees.StoreId
from Store Stores
INNER JOIN Employee Employees ON Stores.Id = Employees.StoreId",
(a, s) => { a.Employees = s; return a; },
splitOn: "EmployeeId");
foreach (var store in stores)
{
Console.WriteLine(store.Name);
}
}
Can anybody spot the mistake?
EDIT:
These are my entities:
public class Product
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public double Price { get; set; }
public IList<Store> Stores { get; set; }
public Product()
{
Stores = new List<Store>();
}
}
public class Store
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<Product> Products { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<Employee> Employees { get; set; }
public Store()
{
Products = new List<Product>();
Employees = new List<Employee>();
}
}
EDIT:
I change the query to:
IEnumerable<Store> stores = connection.Query<Store, List<Employee>, Store>
(#"Select Stores.Id as StoreId ,Stores.Name,Employees.Id as EmployeeId,
Employees.FirstName,Employees.LastName,Employees.StoreId
from Store Stores INNER JOIN Employee Employees
ON Stores.Id = Employees.StoreId",
(a, s) => { a.Employees = s; return a; }, splitOn: "EmployeeId");
and I get rid of exceptions! However, Employees are not mapped at all. I am still not sure what problem it had with IEnumerable<Employee> in first query.
This post shows how to query a highly normalised SQL database, and map the result into a set of highly nested C# POCO objects.
Ingredients:
8 lines of C#.
Some reasonably simple SQL that uses some joins.
Two awesome libraries.
The insight that allowed me to solve this problem is to separate the MicroORM from mapping the result back to the POCO Entities. Thus, we use two separate libraries:
Dapper as the MicroORM.
Slapper.Automapper for mapping.
Essentially, we use Dapper to query the database, then use Slapper.Automapper to map the result straight into our POCOs.
Advantages
Simplicity. Its less than 8 lines of code. I find this a lot easier to understand, debug, and change.
Less code. A few lines of code is all Slapper.Automapper needs to handle anything you throw at it, even if we have a complex nested POCO (i.e. POCO contains List<MyClass1> which in turn contains List<MySubClass2>, etc).
Speed. Both of these libraries have an extraordinary amount of optimization and caching to make them run almost as fast as hand tuned ADO.NET queries.
Separation of concerns. We can change the MicroORM for a different one, and the mapping still works, and vice-versa.
Flexibility. Slapper.Automapper handles arbitrarily nested hierarchies, it isn't limited to a couple of levels of nesting. We can easily make rapid changes, and everything will still work.
Debugging. We can first see that the SQL query is working properly, then we can check that the SQL query result is properly mapped back to the target POCO Entities.
Ease of development in SQL. I find that creating flattened queries with inner joins to return flat results is much easier than creating multiple select statements, with stitching on the client side.
Optimized queries in SQL. In a highly normalized database, creating a flat query allows the SQL engine to apply advanced optimizations to the whole which would not normally be possible if many small individual queries were constructed and run.
Trust. Dapper is the back end for StackOverflow, and, well, Randy Burden is a bit of a superstar. Need I say any more?
Speed of development. I was able to do some extraordinarily complex queries, with many levels of nesting, and the dev time was quite low.
Fewer bugs. I wrote it once, it just worked, and this technique is now helping to power a FTSE company. There was so little code that there was no unexpected behavior.
Disadvantages
Scaling beyond 1,000,000 rows returned. Works well when returning < 100,000 rows. However, if we are bringing back >1,000,000 rows, in order to reduce the traffic between us and SQL server, we should not flatten it out using inner join (which brings back duplicates), we should instead use multiple select statements and stitch everything back together on the client side (see the other answers on this page).
This technique is query oriented. I haven't used this technique to write to the database, but I'm sure that Dapper is more than capable of doing this with some more extra work, as StackOverflow itself uses Dapper as its Data Access Layer (DAL).
Performance Testing
In my tests, Slapper.Automapper added a small overhead to the results returned by Dapper, which meant that it was still 10x faster than Entity Framework, and the combination is still pretty darn close to the theoretical maximum speed SQL + C# is capable of.
In most practical cases, most of the overhead would be in a less-than-optimum SQL query, and not with some mapping of the results on the C# side.
Performance Testing Results
Total number of iterations: 1000
Dapper by itself: 1.889 milliseconds per query, using 3 lines of code to return the dynamic.
Dapper + Slapper.Automapper: 2.463 milliseconds per query, using an additional 3 lines of code for the query + mapping from dynamic to POCO Entities.
Worked Example
In this example, we have list of Contacts, and each Contact can have one or more phone numbers.
POCO Entities
public class TestContact
{
public int ContactID { get; set; }
public string ContactName { get; set; }
public List<TestPhone> TestPhones { get; set; }
}
public class TestPhone
{
public int PhoneId { get; set; }
public int ContactID { get; set; } // foreign key
public string Number { get; set; }
}
SQL Table TestContact
SQL Table TestPhone
Note that this table has a foreign key ContactID which refers to the TestContact table (this corresponds to the List<TestPhone> in the POCO above).
SQL Which Produces Flat Result
In our SQL query, we use as many JOIN statements as we need to get all of the data we need, in a flat, denormalized form. Yes, this might produce duplicates in the output, but these duplicates will be eliminated automatically when we use Slapper.Automapper to automatically map the result of this query straight into our POCO object map.
USE [MyDatabase];
SELECT tc.[ContactID] as ContactID
,tc.[ContactName] as ContactName
,tp.[PhoneId] AS TestPhones_PhoneId
,tp.[ContactId] AS TestPhones_ContactId
,tp.[Number] AS TestPhones_Number
FROM TestContact tc
INNER JOIN TestPhone tp ON tc.ContactId = tp.ContactId
C# code
const string sql = #"SELECT tc.[ContactID] as ContactID
,tc.[ContactName] as ContactName
,tp.[PhoneId] AS TestPhones_PhoneId
,tp.[ContactId] AS TestPhones_ContactId
,tp.[Number] AS TestPhones_Number
FROM TestContact tc
INNER JOIN TestPhone tp ON tc.ContactId = tp.ContactId";
string connectionString = // -- Insert SQL connection string here.
using (var conn = new SqlConnection(connectionString))
{
conn.Open();
// Can set default database here with conn.ChangeDatabase(...)
{
// Step 1: Use Dapper to return the flat result as a Dynamic.
dynamic test = conn.Query<dynamic>(sql);
// Step 2: Use Slapper.Automapper for mapping to the POCO Entities.
// - IMPORTANT: Let Slapper.Automapper know how to do the mapping;
// let it know the primary key for each POCO.
// - Must also use underscore notation ("_") to name parameters in the SQL query;
// see Slapper.Automapper docs.
Slapper.AutoMapper.Configuration.AddIdentifiers(typeof(TestContact), new List<string> { "ContactID" });
Slapper.AutoMapper.Configuration.AddIdentifiers(typeof(TestPhone), new List<string> { "PhoneID" });
var testContact = (Slapper.AutoMapper.MapDynamic<TestContact>(test) as IEnumerable<TestContact>).ToList();
foreach (var c in testContact)
{
foreach (var p in c.TestPhones)
{
Console.Write("ContactName: {0}: Phone: {1}\n", c.ContactName, p.Number);
}
}
}
}
Output
POCO Entity Hierarchy
Looking in Visual Studio, We can see that Slapper.Automapper has properly populated our POCO Entities, i.e. we have a List<TestContact>, and each TestContact has a List<TestPhone>.
Notes
Both Dapper and Slapper.Automapper cache everything internally for speed. If you run into memory issues (very unlikely), ensure that you occasionally clear the cache for both of them.
Ensure that you name the columns coming back, using the underscore (_) notation to give Slapper.Automapper clues on how to map the result into the POCO Entities.
Ensure that you give Slapper.Automapper clues on the primary key for each POCO Entity (see the lines Slapper.AutoMapper.Configuration.AddIdentifiers). You can also use Attributes on the POCO for this. If you skip this step, then it could go wrong (in theory), as Slapper.Automapper would not know how to do the mapping properly.
Update 2015-06-14
Successfully applied this technique to a huge production database with over 40 normalized tables. It worked perfectly to map an advanced SQL query with over 16 inner join and left join into the proper POCO hierarchy (with 4 levels of nesting). The queries are blindingly fast, almost as fast as hand coding it in ADO.NET (it was typically 52 milliseconds for the query, and 50 milliseconds for the mapping from the flat result into the POCO hierarchy). This is really nothing revolutionary, but it sure beats Entity Framework for speed and ease of use, especially if all we are doing is running queries.
Update 2016-02-19
Code has been running flawlessly in production for 9 months. The latest version of Slapper.Automapper has all of the changes that I applied to fix the issue related to nulls being returned in the SQL query.
Update 2017-02-20
Code has been running flawlessly in production for 21 months, and has handled continuous queries from hundreds of users in a FTSE 250 company.
Slapper.Automapper is also great for mapping a .csv file straight into a list of POCOs. Read the .csv file into a list of IDictionary, then map it straight into the target list of POCOs. The only trick is that you have to add a propery int Id {get; set}, and make sure it's unique for every row (or else the automapper won't be able to distinguish between the rows).
Update 2019-01-29
Minor update to add more code comments.
See: https://github.com/SlapperAutoMapper/Slapper.AutoMapper
I wanted to keep it as simple as possible, my solution:
public List<ForumMessage> GetForumMessagesByParentId(int parentId)
{
var sql = #"
select d.id_data as Id, d.cd_group As GroupId, d.cd_user as UserId, d.tx_login As Login,
d.tx_title As Title, d.tx_message As [Message], d.tx_signature As [Signature], d.nm_views As Views, d.nm_replies As Replies,
d.dt_created As CreatedDate, d.dt_lastreply As LastReplyDate, d.dt_edited As EditedDate, d.tx_key As [Key]
from
t_data d
where d.cd_data = #DataId order by id_data asc;
select d.id_data As DataId, di.id_data_image As DataImageId, di.cd_image As ImageId, i.fl_local As IsLocal
from
t_data d
inner join T_data_image di on d.id_data = di.cd_data
inner join T_image i on di.cd_image = i.id_image
where d.id_data = #DataId and di.fl_deleted = 0 order by d.id_data asc;";
var mapper = _conn.QueryMultiple(sql, new { DataId = parentId });
var messages = mapper.Read<ForumMessage>().ToDictionary(k => k.Id, v => v);
var images = mapper.Read<ForumMessageImage>().ToList();
foreach(var imageGroup in images.GroupBy(g => g.DataId))
{
messages[imageGroup.Key].Images = imageGroup.ToList();
}
return messages.Values.ToList();
}
I still do one call to the database, and while i now execute 2 queries instead of one, the second query is using a INNER join instead of a less optimal LEFT join.
A slight modification of Andrew's answer that utilizes a Func to select the parent key instead of GetHashCode.
public static IEnumerable<TParent> QueryParentChild<TParent, TChild, TParentKey>(
this IDbConnection connection,
string sql,
Func<TParent, TParentKey> parentKeySelector,
Func<TParent, IList<TChild>> childSelector,
dynamic param = null, IDbTransaction transaction = null, bool buffered = true, string splitOn = "Id", int? commandTimeout = null, CommandType? commandType = null)
{
Dictionary<TParentKey, TParent> cache = new Dictionary<TParentKey, TParent>();
connection.Query<TParent, TChild, TParent>(
sql,
(parent, child) =>
{
if (!cache.ContainsKey(parentKeySelector(parent)))
{
cache.Add(parentKeySelector(parent), parent);
}
TParent cachedParent = cache[parentKeySelector(parent)];
IList<TChild> children = childSelector(cachedParent);
children.Add(child);
return cachedParent;
},
param as object, transaction, buffered, splitOn, commandTimeout, commandType);
return cache.Values;
}
Example usage
conn.QueryParentChild<Product, Store, int>("sql here", prod => prod.Id, prod => prod.Stores)
According to this answer there is no one to many mapping support built into Dapper.Net. Queries will always return one object per database row. There is an alternative solution included, though.
Here is another method:
Order (one) - OrderDetail (many)
using (var connection = new SqlCeConnection(connectionString))
{
var orderDictionary = new Dictionary<int, Order>();
var list = connection.Query<Order, OrderDetail, Order>(
sql,
(order, orderDetail) =>
{
Order orderEntry;
if (!orderDictionary.TryGetValue(order.OrderID, out orderEntry))
{
orderEntry = order;
orderEntry.OrderDetails = new List<OrderDetail>();
orderDictionary.Add(orderEntry.OrderID, orderEntry);
}
orderEntry.OrderDetails.Add(orderDetail);
return orderEntry;
},
splitOn: "OrderDetailID")
.Distinct()
.ToList();
}
Source: http://dapper-tutorial.net/result-multi-mapping#example---query-multi-mapping-one-to-many
Here is a crude workaround
public static IEnumerable<TOne> Query<TOne, TMany>(this IDbConnection cnn, string sql, Func<TOne, IList<TMany>> property, dynamic param = null, IDbTransaction transaction = null, bool buffered = true, string splitOn = "Id", int? commandTimeout = null, CommandType? commandType = null)
{
var cache = new Dictionary<int, TOne>();
cnn.Query<TOne, TMany, TOne>(sql, (one, many) =>
{
if (!cache.ContainsKey(one.GetHashCode()))
cache.Add(one.GetHashCode(), one);
var localOne = cache[one.GetHashCode()];
var list = property(localOne);
list.Add(many);
return localOne;
}, param as object, transaction, buffered, splitOn, commandTimeout, commandType);
return cache.Values;
}
its by no means the most efficient way, but it will get you up and running. I'll try and optimise this when i get a chance.
use it like this:
conn.Query<Product, Store>("sql here", prod => prod.Stores);
bear in mind your objects need to implement GetHashCode, perhaps like this:
public override int GetHashCode()
{
return this.Id.GetHashCode();
}

What is an efficient/quick way to populate a C# struct with SQL table info?

In a nutshell: I have some database table data that I want to populate c# structs with.
For example:
struct Phone
{
public int PhoneID;
public string Number;
}
struct Patient
{
public Phone WorkPhone;
}
And the SQL tables look like this:
Patient table:
Patient ID, Patient Name, etc.
Phone table:
PhoneID, Number, Phone Type etc.
Basically the structs are mirrors of the SQL tables.
I have the primary key (PhoneID), that I am passing through a select statement. So I will only retrieve one row in the case of the patient or up to 5 rows for the Phone table (They can have Work, Cell, Home, etc).
I don't have a great way to stuff this table into a struct easily. What I am doing now is one by one. You can see for hundreds of variables per patient, it's a very tedious and highly code intensive process. Is there some way, maybe I can have a variable in the variable name, for example if the column name is Phone then it would stuff the Phone variable. Hope that makes sense.
query = "SELECT * FROM Phone p WHERE p.StatusID = 'A' AND ObjectTypeID = 'PA' AND ObjectID = '" + PatientID.ToString() + "'";
SqlDataAdapter a1 = new SqlDataAdapter(query, dataConnection);
DataTable t1 = new DataTable();
a1.Fill(t1);
DataTableReader r1 = t.CreateDataReader();
//object value = null;
while (reader.Read())
{
for (int i = 0; i < r1.FieldCount; i++)
{
if (!r1.IsDBNull(i))
{
if reader.GetValue(i)
switch (r1.GetName(i))
{
case "PhoneID": { pr.HomePhone.PhoneID = (int)reader.GetValue(i); break; }
case "PhoneTypeID": { pr.HomePhone.PhoneTypeID = (string)reader.GetValue(i); break; }
case "ObjectID": { pr.HomePhone.ObjectID = (int)reader.GetValue(i); break; }
case "ObjectTypeID": { pr.HomePhone.ObjectTypeID = (string)reader.GetValue(i); break; }
It may be that you need an ORM like NHibernate, Lightspeed or Entity Framework.
If they'd be overkill, check out one of the new mini ORM-like libraries like Massive.
A fullblown ORM is probably out of the question, but you could use reflection to map the values from your datatable to your objects. Alternatively, you could also resort to things like Automapper.
Dapper (stackoverflows lightweight object mapper) seems like a strong candidate. Used it in a few projects so far and love it. Simple, quick and painless.
Unless structs are a requirement, I would suggest switching to classes.
http://code.google.com/p/dapper-dot-net/
You can use Dictionary. The logic would be:
while (reader.Read())
{
Dispute disp = new Dispute();
for (int i = 0; i < reader.FieldCount; i++)
{
if (!reader.IsDBNull(i))
{
//Getting a property name associated to filed name
string mappedProperty = dataMapping[reader.GetName(i)];
//Getting handle to the property
PropertyInfo fld = typeof(Dispute).GetProperty(mappedProperty);
//Setting property value to field value
fld.SetValue(disp, reader.GetValue(i));
}
}
}
All you need in this case would be a dictionary dataMapping that would associate your field names to properties in your object. This is how I do it. It can handle any field structure with little amendments to
code - only dictionary needs to be amended.
The better way though would be to reverse it and use object structure as a driver.
Fill in the intermediary dictionary with fieldName, filedValue
Pass it on to the a function with the object that needs to be filled in with the values
Cycle through all objects properties and assign values using reversed dataMapping dictionary.
In this case the routine basically becomes object-type-independent and only assigns values of found fields. It can also be abstracted to a base class as method and inherited to the actual class.
Mutable structs in general is a pretty bad idea.
You should consider using one of many available ORM, which exist specifically for this purpose.
If you are bent on making something custom, then general idea is pretty simple.
Examine given type using reflection
Bind type field/properties to the data reader field names using either dynamic compilation or expressions
Magic happens
Adding to the answer provided by #Bevan I would add to the list the Entity Framework 4.1 (EF 4.1 is vastly different than other versions), My Generation with sample template like Gentle.NET, or Code Smith.

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